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Photo provided as a courtesy by Betty Cooper

The Panorama Panthers and Perry Bluejays squared off in week zero action on Friday night at Dewey Field in Perry with the Panthers coming away with an impressive victory.

Mother Nature tried to wreak havoc on sports once again Friday night as strong storms were making their way through the area which resulted in a 7:45 p.m. kick time instead of 7 p.m. but the Panthers and Bluejays still took each other on.

The Panthers were taking on the Bluejays in their week zero game and came away with an impressive victory in what was a close game heading into halftime as the score was 14-6 in favor of the Panthers. Coming out in the second half the Panthers really poured it on with their offensive performance and ended up finishing their game with an impressive victory by a final score of 39-21 as they earned a victory over the Class 4A Bluejays in Perry.

This year looking at who the returners were from last season they came in and made an immediate impact with Klayton Bremer who was a defensive leader last season and came out in his first game with one interception returned for a touchdown and another interception as well as Keyton Van Gundy who found his way in the backfield multiple times throughout the night getting stops behind the line of scrimmage.

On the offensive side the projected returners for this year were Cayden Van Meer who had a solid night throwing the ball with multiple completions and a touchdown despite playing with a broken finger. Most of Van Meer’s completions went to Braedon Draper who had more than 100 receiving yards on the night along with clutch plays including a diving catch on 4th down to move the sticks. Ryan Cogil picked up right where he left off last season as he had another career night rushing the ball going for more than 240 yards on the ground and three touchdowns with runs of 69 yards, 65 yards and 2 yards.

The Panthers defense performed well against the Bluejays Friday night as they were able to generate three turnovers with two interceptions and one fumble they recovered and their high tempo offense was able to move the ball efficiently throughout the night.

Moving forward the Panthers will be looking to open up their official week one game when the Panthers head out to take on the Colfax-Mingo Tigerhawks in Colfax beginning at 7 p.m. August 26th and the Panthers were able to earn a victory over the Tigerhawks last season by a final score of 26-21.