Thursday was a special day at Paetow.

The past two weeks had been tumultuous. The football program and its student athletes have had to deal with a large amount of adversity with the resignation of their former head coach and the ensuing fall out.

That amount of adversity could break a team, but it did the opposite at Paetow. The Panthers, under the helm of interim head coach David Hicks Sr., put together a very strong game last week against one of the best teams in the area in Cinco Ranch, and then followed that up with an even better performance this week, beating Seven Lakes 42-14 and staying in the playoff race in District 19-6A in the process.

“I’m just so proud of every single guy in our locker room,” said senior linebacker and captain Alex Kilgore. “Before everything happened, I felt like we were taking 10 steps forward and 30 steps backwards, but we came together through this, we faced that adversity and it’s amazing how our guys have responded. I don’t think anyone expected for us to overcome this but that’s who we are. I would never want to be with any other group of young men. This is who I want to be with out there playing on the field every single day.”

The win was the first in the head coaching career for David Hicks Sr., after the game he was presented with the game ball by Kilgore and his son, D.J. Hicks in what was a memorable moment for the entire team.

“It was a really cool moment, but like I tell them every day, you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low,” Hicks said. “That really is a 24-hour rule and you just have to keep growing from it every single day. I’m just extra proud of all of these guys right now, but we’ll be right back at it and working tomorrow morning.”

Paetow put together a strong game in all three phases, with their defense holding the Spartans to just over 100 yards of offense, the Panthers offense putting together a very balanced game and the teams special teams doing what it needed to do throughout.

Damyrion Phillips put the Panthers ahead midway through the first quarter on a 29-yard touchdown run and Paetow was driving again late in the first quarter before Isaac Radtke intercepted a pass and returned in 75 yards to set Seven Lakes up inside the 10-yard line, where they tied the game on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Tanner Perez to Evan Tomalty.

But Paetow came right back with an answer, as Koby Truehill drove the team down the field and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, before Phillips scored again on a 9-yard touchdown run and Truehill made things a three score game shortly before the end of the half on a 44-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Johnson.

“It was one of the first times this season we really had a complete game with all three cylinders clicking,” Hicks said. “That’s exactly what we were looking for was to have a complete game and to grow from it. Now we’ve put some good stuff on film and the key is to use that and teach the guys from it and grow even more going forward.”

Paetow kept things going in the second half with two long touchdown passes from Truehill to Justin Stevenson and Jason Blue as the Panthers sealed things with a strong third quarter.

The Paetow offense had one of their strongest games of the year, as the Panthers rushed for 159 yards and also threw for 165. The Panthers have taken a step up offensively especially over the past two weeks with a return to the teams roots in the I-formation.

“It’s just something that we know and we’re really comfortable with,” said senior offensive lineman Nicholas Lira. “As you can see it’s working, we’re just all on the same page as an offense now and as teammates we’re communicating better and minimizing mistakes.”

Now the Panthers turn their focus to next weeks matchup against Taylor. There is a motto going through the Paetow locker room right now, as they are focusing on winning the day in front of them.

“You have to win the day,” Hicks said. “You have to win the day that’s in front of you and then tomorrow do the same thing. We have to win out and that’s how we do it, from here on out, we win every day. As long as you do that, everything will take care of itself. We’re going to keep growing, focusing on winning the day in front of us and dominating everything you do.”

Paetow 42, Seven Lakes 14

First quarter

P: Damyrion Phillips 29 run (Gabriel Schaeffer kick) 5:16

Second quarter

SL: Tanner Perez 2 pass to Evan Tomalty (Jon Franco kick) 11:17

P: Koby Truehill 1 run (Schaeffer kick) 4:48

P: Phillips 9 run (Schaeffer kick) 2:16

P: Koby Truehill 44 pass to Derrick Johnson (Schaeffer kick) 2:16

Third quarter

P: Truehill 41 pass to Justin Stevenson (Schaeffer kick) 8:20

P: Truehill 42 pass to Jason Blue (Schaeffer kick) 4:33

Fourth quarter

SL: Donye Lake 1 run (Franco kick) 1:15

Team stats

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Paetow: Damyrion Phillips, 15-71-2; Derrick Johnson, 6-62; Koby Truehill, 3-26-1; Jamarious Bates, 2-17; Seven Lakes: Donye Lake, 10-30-1; Barrett Hudson, 9-14; Jake Farris, 9-5; Tanner Perez, 2-2; Marcel Davis, 1-(-3);

Passing – Paetow: Koby Truehill, 8-19-207-3-2; Seven Lakes: Tanner Perez, 8-15-14-1-1; Collin Mills, 3-5-43-0-0

Receiving – Paetow: Justin Stevenson, 3-96-1; Jason Blue, 3-54-1; Derrick Johnson, 1-44-1;Damyrion Phillips, 1-8; Carmelo Wilson, 1-5; Seven Lakes: Landon Ross, 7-36; Ethan Adu-Lartey, 1-18; Evan Tomalty, 1-2-1; Barrett Hudson, 2-1