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Panthers flip the script
Mt. Pleasant football storms back, beats Keokuk for 1st time since 2019
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — The Keokuk Chiefs have given Mt. Pleasant plenty of headaches in the past five years. That’s how long it had been since the Panthers had beaten one of their longest standing conference rivals.
Late in the second quarter, Friday night’s Class 3A District 4 clash threatened to be one in the same, but a late second quarter touchdown and a big-play second half helped the Panthers get past the Chiefs 34-27.
The story of the first half was Mt. Pleasant’s inability to contain Keokuk wideout Drew Campbell. The senior receiver burned the Panthers three times in the first quarter, and once in the second, to rack up nearly 200 receiving yards and four touchdowns before the game even hit halftime.
Keokuk was up 6-0 early in the first period after Campbell scored on a 26-yard swing pass. Mt. Pleasant temporarily took the lead back, going up 7-6 after a three-yard touchdown run by Ramzy Davis.
The Panthers faced their biggest deficit of the game after two long touchdowns by Campbell. Keokuk quarterback Brenton Hoard found Campbell for a 45-yard touchdown pass and a 70-yards touchdown pass, and the Chiefs led 20-7 after one period.
Mt. Pleasant had to battle for their two scores in the second quarter. Payton Walker found the end zone on a short touchdown run after a fourth-and-eight scramble by Zach Newton to cut the lead to 20-14. After Campbell’s fourth touchdown catch, Newton scored on 4th and goal from the 2-yard line with just 28.6 seconds remaining in the half.
Trailing 27-21 at the break, Newton and the Panthers listened closely as the team tried to regroup before a huge second half football.
“ (We said) just don’t back down,” Newton said. “Just don't back down. We couldn't shut ourselves out of the game. We knew we were in it.”
The Panther defense began to get pressure on Hoard, and Mt. Pleasant disrupted the Keokuk pass game just enough to get the ball back. It wasn’t until late in the fourth, however, until the Panther offense wore down Keokuk enough to punch in another touchdown run.
But that’s just what Mt. Pleasant’s offense did. It ran, ran and ran some more, using the power rushing attack to grind away until Newton’s seven-yard touchdown run and a point after by Dylan White gave the Panthers a 28-27 lead with 5:35 remaining.
“It took two years before we could find out what our identity is,” said Panther head coach John Bowlin. “It's a lot more fun to know what it is, and know what your guys want to do.”
Disaster struck for Keokuk special teams twice in the final minutes. The first one hit deep, as a Panther squib kick was mishandled by the Chiefs and eventually wound up in the hands of Lou Schimmelpfennig, giving Mt. Pleasant the ball right back, with a one-point lead.
Newton dashed all the way inside the 10-yard line on the very next play, and it was Davis who padded the scoreboard with an eight-yard touchdown run. The point after was blocked, but the Panthers led 34-27.
With Keokuk on its heals, the Mt. Pleasant kicking game came through again. This time, the squib kick bounced off a member of the Chiefs’ hands team, and Max Sloat fell on the ball, again keeping it out of the hands of Keokuk’s offense.
Mt. Pleasant’s run game continued to pound away. The Panthers ran the clock out after a couple of first downs, and besides a missed field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Keokuk offense didn’t touch the ball in the entire final period.
Overall, the Mt. Pleasant offense ran for 284 yards and five touchdowns. Newton led the way with 139 yards and two scores. Davis finished with 91 yards and two scores, and Walker went for 52 yards and one touchdown.
“I just think it's honestly the big boys up front,” Davis said. “They're making big holes. It's kind of easy right now.”
Newton just needed four completions in the game. Laathan Novak-Watson, Merrick Lamm, Isaiah Lange and Davis all caught one pass.
Defensively, Brody Clark led the team with six tackles. The two fumble recoveries on fourth quarter kickoffs were the only Panther takeaways.
Keokuk’s Campbell was held silent in the second half, but finished the night with five catches for 192 yards and four scores.
Mt. Pleasant (3-4, 1-2) will head to Fort Madison (0-7, 0-3) on Friday night. Like with Keokuk, the Panthers haven’t beaten the Bloodhounds since 2019. A win at the Bloodhounds’ Homecoming game would snap another losing streak.
“There's nothing like revenge,” Davis said. “It's one of the best feelings you can have.”
