The Lena-Winslow Panthers ground out 30 points while keeping the potent Annawan-Wethersfield offense off the scoreboard, as the Titans’ 2023 season came to an end Saturday in a quarterfinal game of the IHSA Class 1A playoifs.
And “ground out” is the way to describe the Panthers’ offense, which consisted exclusively of handing the ball to a running back to follow an immense offensive line down the field.
The punishing rushing attack coupled with the best defense A-W faced all year led to a 30-0 win for Le-Win and a berth in next week’s semifinal game.
The Titans’ biggest tormenter of the game was running back Gage Dunker, who scored all four of the Panthers’ touchdowns.
It was announced during the game that Dunker, only a junior, had passed the 4,000 mark in yards rushing in his career.
The Titans looked solid in the first quarter, forcing Lena-Winslow to punt on their first possession. The Titans only managed one first down on their first possession and Landon Sauer’s punt was downed at the L-W 1-yard line.
The Panthers then showed the kind of football that made them the Class 1A state champions for the past three years and for five of the last six. They put together a 99-yard drive on 14 plays — all of them rushes, most by Dunker — that ended with Dunker’s 16-yard touchdown run.
Annawan-Wethersfield went three and out on their next possession and Lena-Winslow took over on their own 45. This time it took them nine plays to score, on Dunker’s 13-yard run.
Trailing 16-0 as the third quarter opened, the Titans started deep in their own territory and couldn’t move the ball. But they got a break on the punt: The return man for the Panthers fumbled and A-W’s Maddux Heitzler recovered at the Titans’ 37.
But the Panthers are as good on defense as they are on offense. They forced the Titans to punt and took over at their 31.
Aided by a couple of penalties on the Titans, L-W drove to the Annawan-Wethersfield 2 and Dunker ran it in from there.
The final Lena-Winslow touchdown was a four-yard Dunker run near the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter the Titans again were in L-W territory, but lost the ball at their own 43 on a fumble.
Annawan-Wethersfield ended with one of their most successful seasons, winning 10 games (two of which were playoff games). Before Saturday, their only loss was by one point to Stark County in the second game of the season.
