With Welsh leading the way, Spring Garden scores 35 unanswered points en route to a 41-7 victory over Sand Rock.
By Shannon Fagan
WEIS Sports Director
SPRING GARDEN – John Welsh admitted it took a while for Spring Garden to shake off the rust in Thursday night’s season opener against Sand Rock, given that the Panthers haven’t played in a real football atmosphere since last November.
“Everyone’s screaming,” the senior tight end said. “You can smell the steak sandwiches. You haven’t done that in a year, so yeah, it was a little nervous.”
Nerves, poor execution and penalties in the first half led to a dominant second half, and Spring Garden scored 35 unanswered points en route to a 41-7 victory.
“We didn’t control the line of scrimmage well in the first half,” Spring Garden coach Barrett Ragsdale said. “We had some penalties and poor execution and just couldn’t get anything done.”
“We go in at halftime and talk. We have an experienced team. We came out and executed and controlled the line of scrimmage. That allowed us to open up our playbook a little bit.”
Welsh did a little of everything for the Panthers (1-0), catching three passes for 80 yards and scoring two touchdowns. On defense, he made five tackles and returned an interception 68 yards, giving Spring Garden the final score with 10:38 left in the game.
Welsh also scored a touchdown on a 65-yard punt return, but the punt was called back due to a Panthers penalty.
Not a bad start to the 2024 high school football season.
“We started slow in the first and second quarters, but then we found our rhythm,” Welsh said. “We just knew we had to step up and overcome the things we did wrong and have the will to make it happen. That’s what we did in the second half.”
Ragsdale said, “John stepped up and made plays when we needed him, both offensively and defensively. He played hard from the sidelines defensively and showed a lot of effort offensively as well. He played a great game. I was proud of him and his performance.”
Senior quarterback Noah Barber and senior running back Connor Bates were also key for the Panthers. Barber completed six of his 12 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Bates rushed for 84 yards on nine runs and also caught two passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.
“You can’t always stay in the jumbo and stay unbalanced,” Barber said. “You have to be able to spread it out sometimes. That opens up the run, too. It’s great to have athletes you can pass the ball to.”
Barber helped Spring Garden take a 6-0 lead with a 72-yard touchdown throw to Bates just 1:17 into the game.
But the Wildcats (0-1) answered with a nine-play, 56-yard run that led to a 5-yard touchdown run by Kane Robison. Morgan Tucker’s extra point gave Sand Rock a 7-6 lead with 5:18 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers regained the lead with 9:26 left in the first half when Barber scored his first touchdown against Welsh, a 24-yard run. Bates’ run for a 2-point conversion was not enough to keep the score at 12-7.
Sand Rock threatened to take the lead with a drive inside the Panthers’ 5-yard line with just under four minutes left in the first half, but on fourth down and goal, Bates intercepted a pass from Alec Ashley near the end zone and lost the ball.
After a Sand Rock punt early in the third quarter, Bates scored on a 10-yard run. Barber ran in and converted the 2-pointer that gave Spring Garden a 20-7 lead.
Welsh scored a 16-yard touchdown at the end of the third quarter to take a 27-7 lead. The Wildcats gave the ball back to the Panthers by fumbled the ensuing kickoff, leading to Barber’s 21-yard touchdown throw to Welsh eight seconds into the fourth quarter.
Welsh capped off the game with his interception return.
Ashley completed seven of 16 passes for 95 yards, leading the Wildcats.
Spring Garden travels to Pleasant Valley on Friday. Sand Rock hosts West End of Walnut Grove.
