Hallsville outpaces Panthers 58-20

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by Mark Cheffey

Time stops for nobody, but it was the only thing that could stop the Hallsville offense in the PHS varsity football team’s 58-20 season-opening loss on the road Friday.

Hallsville’s first-team offense got the ball eight times and scored eight touchdowns. With the clock moving continuously in the fourth quarter, Hallsville’s second team ended the game on the field as time expired.

In particular, the Panthers had no answer for the Indians’ junior quarterback, Colton Nichols, who accounted for all but 29 of Hallsville’s 416 total yards of offense as well as all but eight of the team’s points scored.

Nichols ended up rushing for 241 yards and four touchdowns, and passing for 146 yards and three touchdowns.  

Meanwhile, Palmyra’s Marty Smyser III had a solid varsity debut as quarterback, leading the team with 104 rushing yards and a touchdown. And, both of his two completed passes went for touchdowns.

But Palmyra could not keep up with the Hallsville scoring machine, which scored the game’s first two touchdowns, including a TD run by Nichols, who accumulated over 100 yards rushing before the Panthers earned intitial first down.

However, after falling behind 12-0, Smyser engineered a 10-play, 72 yard drive for a  touchdown.

The drive looked doomed when the Panthers faced fourth  and 14 from the Indians 24, when Smyser dropped back and fired a pass down the middle, and senior wide receiver, Ethan Redd, made a leaping catch just inside the end-zone with a Hallville defender all over him.

Senior running back, Aaron Ritchey scored a two-point run to cut Hallsville’s lead to 12-8, but it would be the closest Palmyra would get to the Indians, who scored two touchdowns to start the second quarter and take a 28-8 lead.

Palmyra came back with an eight-play 55-yard drive that included a 20-yard run by Smyser, who capped it all with a three-yard touchdown run, cutting Hallsville’s lead to 28-14.

However, Hallsville ended the first half with a 58-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Nichols, giving Hallsville a 36-14 halftime lead.

Palmyra opened the second half in fine fashion with a 13-play, 70 yard drive that used up seven minutes and ended with Smyser’s second touchdown pass, five yards to Redd, to reset the score at 36-20.

From then on, though, Hallsville would score three unanswered touchdowns to end the game.

Smyser’s debut was ended late in the third quarter when he suffered an apparent ankle injury and was relieved by Ritchey, who completed two of three passes for seven yards and rushed

eight times for 20 yards.

Ashton Hankins was Palmyra’s second leading rusher with 74 yards on 19 carries, while Ryan McKeown added 28 yards on five rushes while catching one pass for seven yards.

Redd end up with the two touchdown catches for 32 yards.

Ritchey led the Palmyra defense with six total tackles, while McKeown and Brett Tuter contributed four. One of McKeown’s was for a loss.

Palmyra committed the only turnover, a fumble.

The game was light on penalties with Hallsville committing three for 25 yards and Palmyra getting called for one 15-yarder.

The game was played without Kevin Miles patrolling the sidelines, as the long-time head coach served a one-game suspension.

Palmyra goes back on the road this Friday, traveling to Bowling Green for a team’s only other non-conference game on the schedule.

The Bobcats are coming off of a 68-6 victory over Louisiana Friday.

District set

The Panthers learned Friday they will compete in Class 2, District 7 this season along with Bowling Green, Centralia, Clark County, Hallsville High, Missouri Military Academy and Montgomery County.

Only Montgomery County and MMA are not already on Palmyra’s schedule this season.

Palmyra at  Hallsville

Friday, Aug. 26, 2022

1 2 3 4 F

Palmyra 8 6 6 0 20

Hallsville 12 24 14 8 58

Scoring

First Quarter

Hallsville: Colton Nichols 6-yd. TD run at 8:13, 2-pt. try failed, 0-6

Hallsville: Gauge Harbison 3-yd. TD run at 6:24, 2-pt. try failed 0-12

Palmyra: Ethan Redd 24-yd TD pass from Marty Smyser III at 0:50, Aaron Ritchey 2-pt. run, 8-12

Second Quarter

Hallsville: Xavier Stinson 43-yd. TD pass from C. Nichols at 11:49, Nichols 2-pt. run, 8-20

Hallsville: Landyn Sievers 43-yd. TD pass from C. Nichols at 8:05, X. Stinson 2-pt. run, 8-28

Palmyra: Smyser 3-yd. TD run at 4:52, 2-pt. try failed, 14-28.

Hallsville: C. Nichols 3-yd TD run at 3:44, C. Nichols 2-pt. run, 14-36 

Third Quarter

Palmyra: Redd 8-yd. TD pass from Smyser at 5:01, 2-pt. try failed, 20-36

Hallsville: C. Nichols 46-yd TD run at 4:51, 2-pt. try failed, 20-42

Hallsville: Sievers 17-yd. TD pass from C. NIchols at 2:07, Kale Nichols 2-pt. pass from C. Nichols, 20-50

 Fourth Quarter

Hallsville: C. Nichols 9-yd. TD run at 8:28, C. Nichols 2-pt. run, 20-58

CCC Standings Week 1

CCC All PF PA

Centralia 0-0 1-0 26 21

Clark Co. 0-0 1-0 56 0

Macon 0-0 1-0 27 14

Monroe City 0-0 1-0 48 8

S. Shelby 0-0 1-0 35 23

Brookfield 0-0 0-1 8 29

Highland 0-0 0-1 36 55

Palmyra 0-0 0-1 20 58

Week 1 in the CCC

Hallsville 58, Palmyra 20

Centralia 26, Mexico 21

Trenton 29, Brookfield 8

Clark Co. 56, Scotland Co. 0

South Shelby 35, Milan 23

Monroe City 48, Mark Twain 8

Macon 27, Kirksville 14

Putnam County 55, Highland 36

Week 2 in the CCC

Palmyra at Bowling Green

Hallsville at Centralia

Brookfield at Marceline

Princeton at Clark County

Westran at South Shelby

Monroe City at Montgomery Co.

Macon at North Callaway

Highland at Scotland County

Class 2 District 7 Standings Week 1

Team Record Points

Centralia 1-0 35.00

Bowling Green 1-0 33.00

Clark County 1-0 33.00

Hallsville 1-0 33.00

Montgomery Co. 0-1 -2.00

MMA 0-1 -3.00

Palmyra 0-1 -3.00

Week 1 in Class 2, Dist. 7

Hallsville 58, Palmyra 20

Bowling Green 68, Louisiana 6

Russellville 49, MMA 6

Hermann 25, Montgomery Co. 13

Centralia 26, Mexico 21

Clark Co. 56, Scotland Co. 0

Week 2 in Class 2, Dist. 7

Palmyra at Bowling Green

Hallsville at Centralia

Paris at MMA

Monroe City at Montgomery Co.

Princeton at Clark County

2022 PHS Varsity 

Football Schedule

8/26 at Halls.        L, 20-58, 0-1

9/2 at Bowl. Green  7 p.m.

9/9 at Centralia        7 p.m.

9/16 Macon                   7 p.m.

9/23 Brookfield         7 p.m.

9/30 at Monroe City  7 p.m.

10/7 Clark Co.              7 p.m.

10/14 at Highland        7 p.m.

10/21 South Shelby     7 p.m.

10/28 District  TBA      7 p.m.