Paetow’s defense is used to holding offenses in check.

The Panthers came into this week holding teams to an average of 16 points per game to teams, but they weren’t satisfied just because they have had a strong start to the season.

“We know we have to keep going and keep getting better,” said junior linebacker Alex Kilgore. “When we’re locked in, nobody can run on us, nobody can pass on us. We get harped on every practice to run to the ball and pursue. It doesn’t matter what drill, practice is where everything starts.”

Paetow’s (4-0, 2-0) defense led the way as the Panthers held Kempner to -10 rushing yards in a District 10-5A, Division I 65-0 shutout victory on Saturday at Legacy Stadium.

“It really does feel good to put together a performance like this,” Kilgore said. “You work on this stuff all through practice, all through the summer and to know that we can come out and do the things we tell each other to do, it’s feels good to be able to put up numbers like that.”

After the Paetow defense forced Kempner (0-3, 0-1) into a 3-and-out to start the game, C.J. Dumas hit Kole Wilson on a 26-yard pass to put the Panthers ahead.

“We’ve been working on coming out fast and I had a lot of confidence just going into the play,” Dumas said. “I trust my offensive line and my receivers route running, Kole is a great receiver and I knew if I put the ball anywhere near him that he was going to go up, get it and score.”

Jacob Brown added to the lead with a 21-yard run and ended the half with three scores. Gene Kendall scored on a one yard run late in the first quarter.

Paetow’s defense continued to dominate in the second quarter as they blocked a punt and C.J. Johnson intercepted a pass. Dumas and Damyrion Phillips added on to the lead with touchdown runs, a 28-yard run from Dumas and a 2-yard run from Phillips and Kempner had -27 yards of offense at the half.

“When the defense plays like that it just helps us so much,” Brown said. “Great field position helps every single time. It’s not just that, but when they’re making great plays on defense it motivates us on offense to do even better. That’s bleeds over from what we do in practice helping get each other better every single day.”

The Panthers came out fast in the second half too as Scottie Edison took the opening kickoff of the half 80-yards for a touchdown. Phillips added another touchdown and Anthony Fuentes kicked a field goal to cap off the scoring.

Kempner ended the night with just seven yards of total offense as Paetow secured its first shutout of the season, staying perfect on the year and in district play.

“I challenged the team this past week to play a clean game for four quarters,” said Paetow head coach B.J. Gotte. ”I didn’t want us to have a letdown after a good first half. The past three games, we’ve played well in in all three phases and then in the second half we would sputter. We were able to start the second half clean and do what we set out to do. We have a lot of three-year letterman on the roster that have experience, so we have high expectations for them.”

Paetow’s aim is to win district for the first time this year and to compete for a state championship, but the team knows it will need to continue to improve.

The Panthers will take on Milby next week as they try to continue their perfect start to the season.

“I’ve been saying it since we had the forfeit last year, this team can win a state championship,” Dumas said. “That’s something we’ve been telling ourselves since that happened last season. We take things one game at a time and don’t get too far ahead, but we definitely feel like if we go out there and play the way we know we can that this team can beat anyone.”

Paetow 62, Kempner 0

First quarter

Paetow: C.J. Dumas 26 pass to Kole Wilson (Anthony Fuentes kick), 9:42

Paetow: Jacob Brown 21 run (Fuentes kick), 5:04

Paetow: Gene Kendall 1 run (Fuentes kick), 0:15

Second quarter

Paetow: Brown 16 run (Fuentes kick), 9:59

Paetow: Brown 7 run (Fuentes kick), 8:07

Paetow: Dumas 28 run (Fuentes kick), 6:50

Paetow: Damyrion Phillips 2 run (Fuentes kick), 3:53

Third quarter

Paetow: Scottie Edison 80 kickoff return (Fuentes kick), 11:49

Paetow: Phillips 3 run, 4:20

Fourth quarter

Paetow: Fuentes 22 kick, 11:17

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing -- Paetow: Jacob Brown, 9-92-3; Damyrion Phillips, 16-74-2; C.J. Dumas, 2-48-1; Jalyn Richardson, 8-54; Gene Kendall, 2-4-1; John Helton, 2-(-5); Kyle Hughes, 1-(-9), 7-31; Kempner: Justin Peters, 7-12; Corbin Evers, 4-14; Abayomi Wiggins, 3-(-2); Chibuikem Ome, 1-(-4) Javon Goss, 8-(-30);

Passing -- Paetow: CJ Dumas, 4-6-109-1-0; John Helton, 1-1-38-0-0 Kempner: Corbin Evers, 3-4-15-0-0; Javon Goss, 4-11-2-0-1;

Receiving – Paetow: Kole Wilson, 3-96-1; Justin Stevenson, 1-35; Jason Blue, 1-16; Kempner: Gavin Watson-Roysten, 4-13; Abdule Durasomi, 1-3; Antonio Jacobs, 2-1;