Paetow is learning to thrive in tight games.

The Panthers are learning how to fight and find a way to win, no matter the circumstances as we hit midway through the season. They did it against Dekaney in non-district play, did it against Tompkins in a win during the first week of district play and the Panthers (5-1, 4-0) did it again on Thursday night, overcoming a late comeback attempt from Cinco Ranch (2-5, 2-3) to top the Cougars and winning 41-31 to stay perfect in District 19-6A play.

“It started week two against Dekaney, I think that was huge for these young guys to learn how to win in a close game where it was decided by a touchdown,” said Paetow head coach David Hicks Sr. “it happens again in district and these guys know how to handle it. Every week they’re learning how to win, believing in each other and that’s where the success comes from. It’s been great to see.”

Paetow got off to a hot start in the game and had to hold on late. Going up by 13 multiple times in the first half and as many as 17 in the second half. But Cinco slowly crawled back into the game, scoring 21 points in the second half and trimming Paetow’s lead to just three points with six minutes remaining in the game.

The Panthers executed their four minute offense perfectly from there, driving down the field, milking the clock, forcing Cinco Ranch to use all of its timeouts and then finally sealing the game with just over a minute left on a fourth and seven from the Cinco Ranch 10-yard-line, scoring a touchdown on a 10-yard fade route pass from Jackson Farrar to Ikenna Nwobu that clinched the win.

“We practice our four-minute offense every Wednesday and every Tuesday we practice our goal line situations,” Hicks said. “It just shows how important both of those are because on that last drive tonight, both came up. It’s nothing foreign to these kids because they have the reps and they know exactly how to execute it.  We’ve been working that same scenario since the beginning of August and this is exactly why.”

Johnson continued his stellar play and had another huge night, rushing for 215 yards and four touchowns. The senior scored on two of Paetow’s first three plays of the game, rushing for a 39-yard score and a 43-yard score in the first quarter, before adding a five yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

“I just want to do whatever it takes for my team to win,” Johnson said. “The goal is for my team to make the playoffs and we’ve done what we need to do to be in that conversation right now. I just do this for my team, that fuels me.”

Cinco tried to battle into the game. Charlie Adamoli threw for a touchdown in the second quarter on a 14-yard pass to Jacob Chevez and ran in a 6-yard run in the third quarter. Marcus Gadlin added a touchdown run in the fourth and Brayden Gonzalez was the one who cut Paetow’s lead to three with six minutes remaining.

But in the end, Paetow did what it needed to do. Along with Johnson, Farrar had a strong day, Farrar threw two toucdhowns on the day, a 4-yarder in the third quarter to Daqualyn Lott and the 10-yard touchdown that sealed the game to Nwobu. Overall, Farrar threw for 123 yards and ran for 45 more.

“We just executed really well today in the pass game and you could see the difference and how it added to our balance on offense,” Farrar said. “We are a great team when we execute the right way and we did that offensively today. We have a plan and we know what we do well, we just have to do it correctly n the game.”

Paetow will face Seven lakes next, as the Panthers look to continue their perfect start to district play with another win and keep pushing for more together.

“This team is a family and I mean that,” Nwobu said. “We knew that after last year, we had to be way more tight knit and become closer and we worked on that all offseason and all summer to make it happen. We have team bondings every week, we do everything for each other. It’s just a chemistry I’ve never had before.”

Paetow 41, Cinco Ranch 31

First quarter

P: Terrence Johnson 39 run (Omar Yaghi kick) 11:07

P: Johnson 43 run (Yaghi kick) 7:47

Second quarter

CR: Charlie Adamoli 14 pass to Jacob Chevez (Andrew Reagan kick) 10:53

P: Johnson 5 run (Yaghi kick) 3:40

CR: Jesus Bravo 26 FG, 0:00

Third quarter

P: Jackson Farrar 4 pass to Daqualyn Lott (Yaghi kick) 9:30

CR: Adamoli 6 run (Adamoli pass to Scott Eckel) 7:28

P: Johnson 4 run (Yaghi kick) 2:10

Fourth quarter

CR: Gadlin 3 run, 9:17

P: Brayden Gonzalez 5 run (Reagan kick) 6:27

Team Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Terrence Johnson: 27-215-4; Jackson Farrar, 6-45; Jordan Bedford, 9-24; Curtis Zeno, 1-5; Cinco Ranch: Marcus Gadlin, 11-52; Brayden Gonzalez, 8-33; Charlie Adamoli, 5-(-15);

Passing – Paetow: Jackson Farrar, 14-28-123-2-0; Cinco Ranch: Charlie Adamoli, 20-31-213-1-0

Receiving – Paetow: Terrence Johnson, 2-39; Daqalyn Lott, 4-31-1; Ikenna Nwobu, 3-27-1; Jeremy McCullough, 2-16; Tyler Washington, 1-7; Joshua Scott, 2-3 ; Cinco Ranch: Drew Tureau, 6-68; Scott Eckel, 5-54; Jacob Chevez, 4-39-1; Brayden Gonzalez, 3-29; Matthew Courtois, 1-11; Marcus Gadlin, 1-9;