Trailing 16-7 early in the second quarter after giving up two TDs and a safety on a bad punt snap, and staring a 1-3 record and 0-2 in the conference in the face, the United Township Panthers reeled off four touchdowns, while the defense, which has given up only 5 offensive touchdowns all season, shut out Geneseo the rest of the way for a 35-16 win over the Maple Leafs on Friday night at the Soule Bowl.
Down 9-0, UT fought back to 9-7 on an Isaiah Navarrette 4-yard TD run just seconds into the second quarter. After missing on his first three pass attempts, QB Christian Peterson completed 7-of-8 the rest of the way, for 137 yards and two touchdowns, a 25-yarder to Cohen Parsons to bring the Panthers within 16-14 just before halftime, and, after Leo Sim’s 2-yard run gave UT the lead 21-16 in the third quarter, a 22-yarder to Josiah Massey that made it 28-16. Navarrette capped off the scoring with his second TD of the night from 2 yards out late in the fourth.
Navarrette finished with a sterling 10.0 yards per rush, with 140 yards on 14 carries. Massey totaled 82 yards on 4 receptions. The Panthers (2-2, 1-1 in Western Big 6 play) travel to #7 (in Class 7A) Quincy (4-0, 2-0) next Friday. Geneseo (2-2, 0-2) will host Galesburg (1-3, 0-1).