Chatham romps in 1st Round win

When writing a story about the Chatham football team you have a difficult time figuring out what angle to take. Do you keep it simple and talk about another dominate Panther victory? Highlight stud player Josh Keyes who continues to shatter records nearly every game he plays? What about the offensive line who opens those holes for Keyes, or other running backs like David and Ryan Coon who could start and probably dominate for nearly every other Class C school in the section? Maybe the coaching staff who consistently has their team ready every week?

In this case you could have picked any one of those and been on the right track. The Panthers the top seed from the south division dominated the fourth seed from the north, Corinth, 62-0 in the driving rain Friday night. The Panthers scored in every quarter while the defense shut out the Tomahawks. Chatham put up 21 in the first, 20 in the second, 13 in the fourth and 8 more points in the final quarter.

Josh Keyes ran for close to 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. Don't overlook the fact that Keyes also set the tone from the teams first kickoff by leveling an opponent with a monster hit, the first of many. Keyes also forced 2 fumbles with his ferocious hits.

How about that offensive line? All they did was clear the way for over 400 yards of offense, all on the ground.

David Coon and Ryan Coon combined for close to 100 yards and 3 scores on the ground as well.

Sometime's it's tough to quantify what the coaching staff does but it was clearly audible all Friday night. Time and time again you could hear Panther coach Mark Dwyer shouting out calls to his defense on what Corinth would do, and time and time again he was correct putting his team in great shape to keep the shutout.

All in all it was a dominate performance by the Panthers who put the pedal to the metal and didn't let up til the final whistle. After four Keyes runs resulted in two first downs on their first drive David Coon finished it up with a score.

On the ensuing defensive possession the Panthers forced a fumble and Ryan Coon recovered setting up a 21 yard Keyes run for a touchdown on fourth down. After a Corinth punt with 2:20 on the clock Keyes took the first play 59 yards for another touchdown.

In the second quarter Ian McGrath picked off a pass to put his team in scoring position again. Less than a minute later Ryan Coon scampered 20 yards to put his team up 28-0. Again less than a minute later the Panthers made a play, this time Keyes laying a monster hit and causing a fumble on the one yard line. David Coon ran in the one yard score shortly after. Chatham would score one more time before the half, this time a Keyes 39 yard run.

In the second half Tanner Niles snuck in a one yard quarterback keeper before Alex Mishkin added a rushing score in each of the final two quarters to close out the win.

Mike Gilbert added six extra points in the win while Miskin ran in one two point conversion.

Up next for Chatham will be Cambridge, coming off a 41-0 trouncing of Voorheesville. The Indians have one of the most vaunted programs in all of Section II and will come in with just one loss, to #1 North Seed Hoosick Falls. That game is slated to be played next Saturday at 7 pm in Stillwater.