The Vernon Panthers scored on their first five possessions and then cruised to a 36-16 win over the visiting Westsyde Blue Wave in high school junior football action Thursday at Grahame Park.
Tailback Zac Kronbauer registered two rushing touchdowns (two yards and 15 yards) and returned a punt for another score, all in the first quarter.
Kronbauer also added two-point conversions on two of his TDs, while John Garvie added another two-point convert, giving the Panthers a 24-0 lead.
In the second quarter, tailback Levi Nicholas took a sweet pass from Garvie 55 yards to make it 30-0.
Kronbauer followed it up with a touchdown reception of his own, taking a Garvie swing pass 13 yards. To end the half, Westsyde connected on a nice pass play to close the half.
“Considering that this was the first half of organized football for many of the boys, I was very impressed with their execution and intensity,” said VSS head coach Sean Smith. “We had a lot of positives to take away from the game as well as lots of things we need to work on in practice this week.
“We just started the junior program two weeks ago, so we are a bit behind in terms of play insertion and scheme.”
After a scoreless third quarter, the Blue Wave scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to complete the scoring.
“The second half was a good chance for us to get a lot of our new players in to see what they could do. The coaching staff was very impressed with their ability to hold their own. However, we took too many penalties which held us back offensively.”
The Panthers (1-0) take on the South Kamloops Titans Wednesday at 4 p.m. (Grahame Park).
