It was a cold, rainy night; a perfect night for football. The Paint Branch varsity football team thought so as they defeated the Wheaton Knights 48-7 on this rain-soaked evening.

The game started with the Panthers kicking off to the Knights. Wheaton’s offense struggled against the Panther defense and was forced to punt. After the punt, the Panther offense went to work. They drove down the field and scored on a Scott Barnes rushing touchdown. Rocco Perciavalle kicked the extra point to make the score 7-0.

After the Paint Branch touchdown Wheaton started back on offense. They started to drive down field, and a score looked to be in the future, until a Wheaton player fumbled the ball and Paint Branch recovered. The next play Barnes then fumbled, but Paint Branch recovered. The next play, Barnes completed a long pass to Raul Flores, which put the Panthers on the Knights’ 11 yard line. The following play Barnes threw a touchdown pass to Perciavalle. The extra point was no good, but the Panthers were dominating the Knights 13-0 only half-way through the first quarter.

When the Knights got the ball it was like their first possession all over again. Hakeem Akinola, a junior defensive tackle, sacked the Wheaton quarterback, and after that the Knights didn’t gain any positive yardage, and they were forced to punt for the second time. With the Panthers getting the ball back they continued their attack on offense with Barnes throwing a 25 yard screen pass to Tristan Alleyne for a Paint Branch touchdown. Perciavalle’s extra point made the score 20-0

Wheaton was running out of ideas so they tried a deep pass that was almost intercepted by Torian Henderson. The Wheaton wide receiver turned defensive back to put a hit on him to assure that he wouldn’t intercept the ball. Henderson was hurt on the play, but he walked off the field under his own power and later returned to the game. Wheaton was in a fourth down situation and did not convert so they once again turned the ball over.

Barnes, wasting no time after the change of possession, threw a 10 yard touchdown pass to Perciavalle, who again kicked the extra point. After the Paint Branch score, Wheaton fought back with a 40 yard pass play to put the Knights in scoring position. The drive was looking bright until Glenn Bass, a senior defensive tackle, sacked the Wheaton quarterback causing a fumble which the Panthers recovered. This ended Wheaton’s best drive of the game.

The score after the first quarter was 27-0. The first play of the second quarter was an Alleyne 60 yard touchdown run. Wheaton’s first possession of the second quarter started with a sack by David Smith, a junior linebacker. The Knights, after being shutdown once again, were forced to punt. Time was starting to run out in the first half and the Panthers were trying to score again before halftime. That ended when Barnes threw a long pass that was intercepted by the Knights and brought it back to the Paint Branch 13 yard line. It was unfortunate for the Knights that time expired leaving the score at halftime at 40-0.

The third quarter started with a bang as Alleyne returned the Wheaton kickoff 95 yards for a Panther touchdown. Wheaton got the ball and started downfield. After a series of short run plays the Knights were in the red zone. The Knights took a shot at the end zone hoping for a touchdown, but they were devastated to see the ball was intercepted. As the third quarter started with a bang, so to did its end.

The fourth quarter was mostly running the ball to burn clock. After six minutes, the Panthers were forced to punt, and Wheaton returned the ball into Panther territory. Wheaton scored their only touchdown of the night with a rushing touchdown. The Knights tried an onside kick, but the Panthers recovered. Barnes did a kneel down to end the game. The final score was the Paint Branch Panthers 48, and the Wheaton Knights 7.