Snohomish Panthers beat themselves Friday

Not a seat left in the house for Friday night’s Dick Armstrong Cup in Snohomish. Veterans Memorial Stadium was at capacity close to game time and by the end of the first quarter, the overflow grass hillside was the only place left to catch the game everyone waits for all year.

The annual cross-valley battle for the Cup is only in its third year even though the two schools have had an ongoing rivalry since Glacier Peak opened in 2008. Snohomish and Glacier Peak share Veterans Memorial Stadium as their home field. A possible stadium deal for Glacier Peak is still waiting to be presented to the Snohomish School Board.
If I gave you just one stat of total offense, Snohomish 198 yards vs Glacier Peak 226 yards.

Would you say the game was close?

This was not the case, mostly because of one other stat, penalties; Panther’s 9-75yds vs Grizzlies 4-35yrds. That in combination with the Panthers fumbling twice and losing both gave Glacier Peak the edge they needed to lead 33-0 late in the fourth quarter before McDaniel hit Roth for a 12-yard touchdown pass.

Most the numbers point to a successful offensive strategy by Panther head coach Kai Smalley, in fact Snohomish passing yards were 2-1 over Glacier Peak, 104-53 and completions 7-3. Yards per play were virtually the same 3.4-3.5 and numbers of first downs were close 12-16 as were number of plays 58-64.

Here are a couple of things that stand out in some of the other stats that may put the game in a different picture; third down conversions, Snohomish 1-13 vs Glacier Peak 6-15. First downs rushing, Panthers 4 Glacier Peak 10 and turnovers Snohomish 4 Glacier Peak 2.

Snohomish Junior QB Kobe McDaniel will need to shake off the jitters from his varsity debut in order to lead his club against a challenging schedule this year. As with all young quarterbacks, McDaniel was welcomed into the fraternity of hard knocks with the unrelenting defense that comes with varsity football.

Ask any football player about their first varsity experience under the lights on Friday night and the will virtually all say the same thing; damn, the game is a lot faster and the hits are a lot harder then I expected.

Snohomish is on the right path and with some minor housekeeping; they should win some games this season. As for Glacier Peak, the jury is still out on just how powerful their offense will be this year. GP has the weapons but needs to dial them in. Glacier Peak defense is another story; they looked very aggressive against Snohomish and created several turnovers including one for a touchdown.

See the entire game on STSPN.com in cooperation with the Grizzly and Panther Boosters.

Snohomish   0  0   0  6 - 6
Glacier Peak 10 16 0 7 - 33