By Jason Bowen, Jackson County Sentinel
SECTION – The Collinsville Panthers delivered a season-opening football win in Daniel Garrett’s debut as head coach Friday night at Section. A defensive battle yielded a 7-0 Panther victory.
The two teams swapped defensive stops for most of the night, with the lone exception a third-quarter Collinsville touchdown pass.
It was the Panthers’ sixth straight win over Section, and their first playing as a Class 3A team for the first time in school history.
“Happy to be 1-0 as a head coach,” said Garrett, who was the defensive coordinator at Madison Academy last season. “Very happy for these guys. Whether it was 7-0 or 50-49, a win is a win. But as a defensive guy, to get a shutout, that tickles me to death.”
“Real tough one,” Section head coach Chris Hammon said. “Our defense, you can tell, is really improved. Defense did everything you can ask of it. (Offensively) we’ve got to finish. I’ve got to get better at play calling. All of us just have to do a better job of executing.”
Section (0-1) forced three Collinsville (1-0) turnovers in the first quarter — Jr. Walker recovered a muffed punt while Dominik Blair and Ethan Franks had interceptions — but was unable to turn those into points.
Late in the second quarter, the Lions used a 16-play drive to reach the Collinsville 27-yard line before turning it over on downs. The Panthers then drove to the Section 6-yard line before Dalton Hughes’ pass was batted down in the end zone of the final play of the second quarter.
Three plays into the third quarter, Hughes found Malachi Orr deep over the middle, and Orr broke a tackle and raced the rest of the way for a 47-yard touchdown catch. Keaton DeBoard kicked the PAT to put Collinsville in front 7-0 just 1:45 into the second half.
Blair’s 43-yard kickoff return allowed Section to start its next possession on the Collinsville 37-yard line. But the Lions eventually turned it over downs after there were unable to convert a fourth-and-1 at the Collinsville 18.
Section never mounted another serious scoring threat.
Collinsville held Section to only 130 total yards and eight first downs. Drake McCutchen led the Lions with 58 rushing yards on 14 carries while Jace Holcomb was 1-for-6 passing for 20 yards.
Collinsville closed with 245 total yards, with Hughes completing 8 of 16 passes for 120 yards and DeBoard completing all three of his attempts for 24 yards. Hughes also ran for 59 yards on 14 carries while Orr ran for 37 yards on six carries.