Friday’s season opener didn’t go the way that Paetow hoped. 

The Panthers had very bright moments in their first game of the season against Langham Creek. They forced turnovers, got the Lobos into third and longs, moved the football, but Paetow ultimately was unable to put a complete game together, losing 24-16 in a game where they fought, but weren’t able to make key plays when they needed them.

“The good thing is it’s non-district, we can learn and we can grow from this,” said junior cornerback Jaeden Spelmon. “We rallied to the ball and everyone played hard. We had some mistakes on defense and a few on offense but it’s nothing we can’t work through. We don’t expect to be a perfect team yet, but now it’s about how we bounce back and use this next week.”

Langham Creek was the team that started hot and the Lobos offense moved the ball extremely well early. Langham drove the ball down the field on a lone drive in the first quarter before scoring to take the lead and Paetow’s offense couldn't find its rhythm, not finding points even after a Spelmon interception midway through the second quarter set them up inside Langham Creek territory.

The Lobos made it 14-0 with six minutes left in the second quarter after another long drive where they controlled the clock, but Paetow found an answer late in the half. Langham looked to be driving again but Spelmon came away with his second interception of the day and this time took it 48 yards for a touchdown for Paetow with just under two minutes left in the half and after forcing Langham Creek to punt on its next drive, Isaiah Bogan blocked and recovered a punt, running it in from five yards out for another touchdown, tying the game at 14 going into halftime.

“Bogan did such a great job on that, and then he went and got another block later in the game, the dude just goes all out all the time,” Spelmon said. “It’s not just me or any one player, this is about the team and that takes everyone from top to bottom. Bogan epitomizes that. When you have guys like that, who are truly bought in and doing whatever they can do to make plays, then everything will work itself out in the end.”

Paetow’s offensive struggles continued throughout the game. Langham retook the lead early in the third quarter after a quick drive. Paetow responded with its best drive of the day, going over 60 yards and getting to the redzone, but the Panthers had their field goal blocked and were unable to come away with points. After Bogan’s second blocked punt of the day, Paetow took over inside the Langham Creek 25-yard line, but again the offense stalled and a interception stopped the Panthers from coming away with points. 

Langham increased its lead early in the fourth with a touchdown run and Paetow again attempted to answer back. The Panthers drove all the way down inside the 10-yard line in what would be its final drive of the game, but eventually, a turnover on downs ended the drive before Langham Creek took over and ran the clock out from there. 

“Offensively and defensively we did well until we absolutely had to make plays,” said Paetow head coach David Hicks Sr. “Offensively we moved it much better in the second half but we have to clean up things in the redzone and once we get down the field. Defensively we did so much on first and second down, but I think we only had two stops on third down all game. That’s the difference in the game right there. Offensively we had trouble with third downs as well. You have to win third downs to win games. But I’m proud of the way these guys fought.”

Paetow will travel to Dekaney for its second game of the season next Thursday. The Panthers wanted to make sure they played strong non-district opponents to get ready for the season and the important thing is these are the times you want to take those learning lessons. 

“I think both Langham Creek and Dekaney are playoff teams,” Hicks said. “I wanted to have two great teams that would challenge us because you have to have those sorts of things with our district. It’s one of the top district’s in the state, so going through adversity now and overcoming it is just going to help us. Now it’s time for us to bounce back.”

Langham Creek 26, Paetow 14

First quarter

LC: Draymond Rui 2 run (Michael Long kick) 4:38

Second quarter

LC: Brett Dowty 34 run (Long kick) 5:55

P: Jaeden Spelmon 48 interception return (Omar Yaghi kick) 1:50

P: Isaiah Bogan 5 punt block return (Yaghi kick) 0:20

Third quarter

LC: Dowty 1 run, 8:49

Fourth quarter

LC: Ruiz 1 run, 11:57

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Terrence Johnson, 12-51; Curtis Zeno, 9-37; Jackson Farrar, 4-36; Langham Creek: Brett Dowty, 15-123-2; Draymond Ruiz, 22-69-2; Aiden Teran, 7-43;

Passing – Paetow: Jackson Farrar, 8-12-34-0-1; Langham Creek: Brett Dowty, 9-13-154-0-2;

Receiving – Paetow: Joshua Scott, 3-16; Camelleon Hawkins, 2-14; Terrence Johnson, 1-0; Langham Creek: Daymond Ruiz, 2-84; Aiden Teran, 4-50; Camarre Palmer, 2-21;