Paetow never stopped believing.

The Panthers went through struggles this season, they had growing pains and tough losses, but through it all the team stayed together, kept working and believed in themselves.

That belief has shown through for the Panthers over the last month, even in losses they have fought and made things close and over the last two weeks, the Panthers have turned the corner, first beating Seven Lakes last week before topping playoff bound Taylor on Friday 13-10 at Rhodes Stadium in a game that was a scrappy fight from start to finish.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” said Paetow head coach David Hicks Sr. “I tell these guys all the time that no matter what our record is, we’re a championship football team and we are going to play at a championship level. Everything we do is to represent that and you can see how they wear it with pride. They deserved everything tonight.”

It was a defensive battle from the opening kickoff where both teams had to fight for every inch.

Taylor started the game with the ball but Paetow made an interception by Jaeden Spelmon to set themselves up in good field position early. Taylor though, made a play right back with an interception of its own  by Victory Kalu-Uka and drove down the field before having to settle for a 28-yard field goal converted by Jackson Waller. The Taylor defense continued to make big plays and after another stop the Mustangs scored a touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Daniel Bruns to Jeremy McCullough. The Panthers made two big interceptions after that though, Carmelo Brooks made the first and after the Taylor defense kept Paetow’s offense off the board Jamaal Comminie made an interception and returned it inside the Mustangs five yard line, which the Paetow offense converted into six on a 2-yard pass by Jackson Farrar to Jabari Bush late in the second half, as Taylor took a 10-6 lead into halftime, as both defenses were playing very strong.

“This defense, we all just play for each other,” Comminie said. “We just stuck to our keys and played our role. We’re a defense with attitude and we are always going to play hard. We wanted to win for everyone in this program, the players and the coaches and it was a great feeling to get this one.”

Both teams continued the defensive battle in the second half as neither were able to get on the board. That continued late into the fourth quarter, when the Paetow offense came alive. The Panthers took a drive from deep in their own territory and drove the length of the field and scoring on a fourth and goal from the two yard line on a Kaleb Molina run with 3:37 remaining. Taylor had a chance to get down the field and win it, but the Panthers forced a turnover on downs to end the game and secure their second straight win.

“Kaleb is one of the hardest working kids I know, and when kids like that get rewarded it’s awesome,” Hicks said. “He does everything the right way and is a great kid. I’m so proud of that guy and happy he got that moment. He made some big time plays tonight.”

Paetow will end its season with a game against Tompkins and be looking to extend the win streak to three games.

“This is great and I’m so happy right now, but we want another one,” Molina said. “This was a good week but now we have to turn the page to next week, keep the momentum going and get another win. This is our last game and we want to go out the right way.”

Paetow 13, Taylor 10

First quarter

T: Jackson Waller 28 field goal, 1:41

Second quarter

T: Daniel Bruns 30 pass to Jeremy McCullough (Waller kick) 11:53

P: Jackson Farrar 2 pass to Jabari Bush, 2:10

Fourth quarter

T: Kaleb Molina 2 run (Yaghi kick) 3:37

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Jamaal Comminie, 8-48; Kaleb Molina, 13-38-1; Jackson Farrar, 10-14; Jabari Bush, 1-8; Javaughn Waldron, 5-7; Ikenna Gamby, 1-2; Carmelo Wilson, 1-1; Taylor: Dante Archie, 10-41; Ethan Jacobson, 15-16; Josh Jacobson, 3-8; Javion Garrett, 2-8; Joe Praise-Adeyemi, 1-1; Daniel Bruns, 1-(-10)

Passing – Paetow: Joshua Scott, 1-1-9-0-0; Jackson Farrar, 1-7-2-1-1; Taylor: Daniel Bruns, 12-24-109-1-3

Receiving – Paetow: Jackson Farrar, 1-9; Jabari Bush, 1-2-1; Taylor: Dante Archie, 5-34; Jeremy McCullough, 2-32-1; Joe Praise-Adeyemi, 2-20; Ian Flynt, 1-17; Cameron Lewis, 2-12;