It was a tale of two halves for Paetow on Friday night.

The Panthers couldn’t find a way through a tough Mayde Creek defense in the first half on Monday. Their runs were stopped by two elite defensive ends from Mayde Creek, they couldn’t move the ball and struggled to find ideas that would work on the offensive end.

But as much as there were struggles in the first half, there were adjustments in the second half and the Panthers (3-1, 2-0) were firing on all cylinders, scoring 28 unanswered points to earn a 28-0 win over Mayde Creek (3-2, 1-2) and put the team in a strong position early in district play.

“This is what we came to do, and it may shock people but this is exactly what we expected,” said senior running back Terrence Johnson. “We want to show people what Paetow is about, we came out tonight and we played our brand of football. We got going in the second half and never looked back.”

Johnson has exploded onto the scene in the past two weeks. The senior ran for over 300 yards in the Panthers district opening win over Tompkins and followed it up with another exceptional performance on Friday, rushing the ball 25 times for 171 yards and three touchdowns to help lead the Panthers to the win.

“It’s all credit to the work Terrence put in all offseason to get to this point,” said Paetow head coach David Hicks Sr. “As soon as the season ended, he was just laser focused and he’s never stopped working. I don’t think there’s any pressure on him because he has already put in the work to succeed and it’s all just coming naturally for him. It’s awesome to see.”

It was a scoreless first half between the two teams, with both moving the ball somewhat but never getting into a threatening position. But all of that changed in the second half when Paetow found its breakthrough, driving down the field and scoring on a 19-yard run from Johnson, who added another later in the quarter on a three-yard run. Johnson sealed the game early in the fourth with a 31-yard touchdown run and Jaidyon Bernard added a 3-yard touchdown with under a minute remaining for the cherry on top.

Through all of this the Paetow defense stifled everything from Mayde Creek, limiting the Rams to under 200 yards of total offense in the shutout win. Every time the Rams would move the ball Paetow would have the answer, repeatedly putting Paetow’s offense in good field position throughout the night.

“I think our defense just keeps getting better and we’re just a bunch fo guys who want to go out and make plays,” said senior safety Deyjhon Pettaway. “Coach (Charlie) Ayro is doing such a great job with us, he knows his players, he’s put us in a great scheme, and we all fit into the system. We really changed our mindset this year. We want to be a defense with attitude. Coach Ayro puts us in positions to succeed and we just trust the man, go out there and make plays. That’s all it takes. Everyone is doing their job and it’s just working really well.”

Paetow has put itself in a great position early in the district schedule with its 2-0 start in district. The Panthers sit third in district and have a chance to keep up their three-game win streak next week when they take on Morton Ranch.

“Our focus is just on what is ahead of us that week,” Hicks said. “I always talk to them about being calm, we are going to celebrate this one and take 24 hours. It’s on to Morton Ranch for us. They have our full attention and we’re looking forward to putting together another really good week.”

Paetow 28, Mayde Creek 0

Third quarter

P: Terrence Johnson 19 run (Omar Yaghi kick) 4:45

P: Johnson 4 run (Yaghi kick) 1:33

Fourth quarter

P: Johnson 31 run (Yaghi kick) 8:15

P: Jaidyon Bernard 3 run (Yaghi kick) 0:41

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Terrence Johnson, 25-171-3; Curtis Zeno, 1-11; Jaidyon Bernard, 1-3-1; Jordan Bedford, 2-7; Jackson Farrar, 4-(-3) Mayde Creek: Ethan Lopez, 9-32; Ansel Carter, 4-16; Christian Bradford, 4-8; Michael Shifatu, 3-4; Chad Nelson, 2-1; Cole Jensen, 1-(-3); Kosi Okpala, 1-(-5);

Passing – Paetow: Jackson Farrar, 14-24-140-0-0; Mayde Creek: Ethan Lopez, 12-26-87-0-1; Cole Jensen, 4-9-41-0-0;

Receiving – Paetow: Ikenna Nwobu, 11-102; Terrence Johnson, 2-30; Jeremy McCullough, 1-8; Mayde Creek: Daylin Robinon, 7-62; Chad Nelson, 4-32; Christian Bradford, 1-19; David Matthews Jr., 1-14; Ansel Carter, 2-8;