A grueling two-month schedule that had players playing at multiple levels saw the lower level Panther football teams finishing 6-3 overall for the 2022 season.

Leading the way was the froshmore (freshman and sophomore) team that finished 5-0 for the year, while the JV team finished 1-3.

“It’s a little deceiving because it was mainly the same players playing JV and froshmore. We would bring a few juniors down for JV games but only a few,” coach Joel Hayano said.

He said that there was only one game that the Panthers were blown out in this year.

Hayano added that with a lot of sophomores playing up to varsity, most of the sophomores only played two quarters at lower level games.

Hayano said he felt like the offensive and defensive lines were the biggest strength of the team, with the sophomore linemen improving significantly from their freshmen campaigns and carrying the team.

He said the team was thin at running back the entire season due to the fact that most of the running backs were playing on varsity.

Throughout the season the Panthers created a lot of lasting memories, but one of the best Hayano said came in the team’s froshmore game in the season finale against Cody.

“It was back and forth, we were losing with about a minute left and they had a bad snap on the punt, we recovered at the 2-yard line and scored the winning touchdown,” Hayano said. “Kind of like Boise State vs. Wyoming, but we scored to win.”

Another game that Hayano said the Panthers battled in was a JV contest against Lovell, where they battled back from a deficit but came up short in the end.

He said the main focus at the lower levels is improving as a team instead of just as individuals.

“We are very excited to see these players play at the varsity level next year,” Hayano said. “We believe there will be several players that will be playing significant minutes next year.”