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Panthers open playoffs with rematch
Published November 13, 2009
BOERNE — Two teams that have become quite familiar with each other will meet this Friday in Boerne as the Navarro Panthers (9-1) tangle with the Comfort Bobcats (5-5) in the opening round of the playoffs.
This will be the fourth meeting in the last two seasons for the Panthers and Bobcats, and that includes a 41-7 romp by Navarro in the playoffs last year.
The teams also met on Sept. 11 of this season, with the Panthers rolling to a 35-6 victory in Geronimo. In that game, Comfort turned the ball over seven times and Navarro ran for more than 300 yards.
Panthers’ head coach Les Goad, who is 4-0 against the Bobcats in his three seasons at Navarro, believes that familiarity is an advantage for Comfort.
“We have run the same scheme offensively and defensively for three years,” he said. “They have had three different coaches in that time with different schemes. So we are not as familiar in depth with their schemes as they are with ours.”
After an 0-4 start against a difficult non-district schedule, the Bobcats have won five of six games. They have outscored their last four opponents by a combined tally of 239-63.
Comfort finished second in District 27-2A behind Blanco, compiling a 5-1 record along the way.
“They are playing with a lot more confidence, especially on offense,” Goad said of Comfort. “They have really good personnel with no weak spots on either side of the ball.”
The Bobcats are using two quarterbacks, Joseph Carlos (who started against Navarro earlier this year) and Paxton Oliphant. Together, they have passed for more than 1,000 yards.
They will most often look for receiver Will Pace, who has caught 26 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns. Jake Kilemstein and Patrick Garrett are also frequent targets when the Bobcats go to the air.
Carlos is Comfort’s leading rusher with 344 yards. He is just ahead of running back J. Frank Derby, who will be playing in his sixth career game against Navarro.
Goad says he has seen a lot of improvement in the Bobcats’ attack since their early meeting.
“Their skill people have been making a lot of plays,” Goad said. “Their quarterbacks are seeing reads faster. They are pretty dangerous.”
On the other side of the ball, Goad points out that Comfort actually held the Panthers to their second lowest yardage total of the season. He attributes the lopsided score in that game mainly to Comfort’s seven turnovers, which he does not expect to see on Friday.
The Bobcats’ defense was especially effective against rival Blanco. Though they lost the game, they held the highly productive Blanco offense to 172 total yards and one offensive touchdown.
The Panthers will go after that defense with a rushing attack that averaged almost 365 yards per game in the regular season. But they will also present more of a passing game than Comfort saw in the September meeting, when the Panthers threw just one time for nine yards.
“We’re more versatile on offense now,” Goad said. “We have put in and worked on more schemes.
“I also think we’ve improved over the course of the year on defense. We’re really playing with confidence on defense.”
The Panther defense has only allowed 13 total points in their last three games.
Goad said he will be looking to his seniors to help the team get mentally ready for this playoff test.
“We have really voiced more expectations of our senior leaders,” he said. “We’re depending on them to establish the morale for the team.
“The seniors have set high goals to do something special here. But they realize you can’t go deep in the playoffs if you can’t get past the first round.”
The Panthers will play without starting halfback Eric Schleier for the second straight week. Schleier has a leg injury but Goad says he may return later if the Panthers advance. Senior Justin Newton is expected to start again in his absence.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Boerne ISD Stadium. The winner will go on to face the winner of the Lago Vista-Hempstead matchup in the area round of the state playoffs.
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