Panthers ground Comets Sunday

PACKWOOD -- It took a whole weekend for the Panthers and Comets to complete their district opener, but Pekin scored twice Friday and twice Sunday for a 30-0 win over Cardinal for the Panthers' Homecoming.

'It was fun in the fashion that we did it, but I do not enjoy playing on a Sunday,” Pekin coach Bud Blakely said. 'I think we are splitting time with the Bears on ESPN.”

The Sunday restart with 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter was delayed due to some heavy rain, but the teams handled the challenge.

'Cardinal has some playmakers that can score a lot of points, so we had to be disciplined,” Blakely said.

Pekin has its own playmaker in Dayne Eckley.

he gets a lot of help from the offensive line,” Blakely said. 'Kennan Winn, Cael Baker, Michael Jones, all of our backs have potential to make things happen.”

Pekin can attack from a lot of different angles using their old-school run-based offense.

'We are more built for sunny and 75 degrees,” Cardinal coach Landon Miller said. 'Our defense has to be better.”

Miller said the Comets and Panthers have played 26 times since 1991 with the average score 49.8-7.4 for Pekin in those games.

'I think this game means more to our kids because the schools are only 27 miles apart,” Miller said. 'Our program is growing and I'm proud of the kids.”

Pekin has won its last two games for a 2-3 record and plays at Highland Friday while Cardinal loses for the first time and hosts Durant.