By TEDDY ALLEN, Journal Sports

Parkway accidentally dropped the ball twice and turned both snafus into touchdowns, the best lacrosse player on the team threw for two scores and rushed for two more, and every Captain Shreve threat to get close was met with either a door slam or a touchdown as the Panthers beat the Gators, 52-33, in a District 1-5A match on a clear Friday night at Lee Hedges Stadium.

Parkway, 7-1, 5-1, welcomes Benton next week, then visits Evangel as the regular season winds down. Captain Shreve, 4-4, 3-3, is at Haughton and then rival Byrd.

 Parkway grabbed a 14-0 first-quarter lead and had an answer whenever Captain Shreve chomped away at the lead.

When the Gators put together an efficient eight-play, 63-yard touchdown drive in the final 70 seconds of the first half to trail just 26-14, the Panthers took the second half kickoff and hammered together the kind of drive you dream of when you come out of a locker room: 80 yards in nine plays, the score coming when lacrosse-guy-turned-QB Gavin Ferrington hit tightly covered freshman wide out Dallas Loche on a slant on third-and-goal from the 9 to make it a three-score game again, 32-14.

When the Gators immediately answered with a long first-possession touchdown drive of their own — the key play a catch-and-run by junior back Jamarcea Plater on fourth-and-four at midfield — to make it 32-21, Parkway countered as quickly as the rules allow: Panther return man Chase Crowder dropped the kickoff at the 1, nervously picked it up, then threaded his way to the 40 before streaking straight to the goal line for a 99-yard return and a 38-21 lead. 

A similar situation happened late in the first quarter when Parkway took a 14-0 lead. Out of a tight formation and with Gators crowding the box, Ferrington fumbled the snap and, on an unrehearsed busted play, picked it up to his left, pivoted, and raced around right end 43 yards for a score.

“So deflating when stuff like that happens,” Shreve coach Jeremy Wilburn said. “But we had half a dozen opportunities in that game to make something happen and we didn’t from a lack of execution. We might have let them off the hook a couple of times, times when we had a man-on-a-man and you have to make the play … and we didn’t.”

“A team win,” said Parkway coach Coy Brotherton, who Friday night witnessed a Panther or two limping off the field, a familiar sight in this turmoil’s-knocking-at-your-door 2024. Leading rusher CJ Dudley finished with 100 yards rushing, but the final 32 came on the first play of the second half and ended with him grabbing his left hamstring and falling; he rushed once more before taking his sore thigh to the bench.

And Camaro Mayo, whose 47-yard touchdown run around end on Parkway’s first offensive play from scrimmage opened the scoring (after teammate Trenton Howard’s interception), limped off in the second half after a defensive play, though he later returned.

“So proud of how they played,” Brotherton said. “We’re already so banged up and shorthanded, then had some guys cramping tonight. We’ve got guys playing different roles than we’d planned, but they’re doing what they need to do. To see the guys get rewarded for all the work they’ve put in the past two weeks, it’s pretty cool.”

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

PARKWAY 52, CAPTAIN SHREVE 33

Panthers            14      12               12               14    –         52

Gators               0          14             13               6      –        33

First Quarter

P – Camaro Mayo 47 run (run failed), 8:19, Parkway 6-0

P – Gavin Ferrington 43 rush, (Devon Oliver pass from Ferrington), :33, Parkway 14-0

Second Quarter

CS – Brodie Savage 4 run (Zane Weese kick), 9:21, Parkway 14-7

P – Josh Coleman 22 pass from Ferrington (run failed), 5:21, Parkway 20-7

P – CJ Dudley 15 run, (run failed), 1:27, Parkway 26-7

CS –Savage 1 run, (Weese kick), :06, Parkway, 26-14

Third Quarter

P – Dallas Loche 9 pass from Ferrington, (run failed), 8:28, Parkway 32-14

CS – DJ Waldon 11 pass from Savage, (Weese kick), 5:07, Parkway 32-21

P – Chase Crowder 99 kick return, (kick failed), 4:52, Parkway, 38-21

CS – Lashawn Davis 40 pass from Savage (run failed), 4:09, Parkway 38-27

Fourth Quarter

P – Crowder 56 run, (Shawn Jackson kick), 5:04, Parkway 45-27

P – Ferrington 7 run, (Jackson kick), 2:05, Parkway 52-27

CS -Chandler Boyd 56 pass from David Amos, (run failed), :42, Parkway 52-33

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING – Parkway (43-317) CJ Dudley 14-100, TD; Gavin Ferrington 9-93, 2 TD; Camaro Mayo 7-38, TD; Chase Crowder 7-68, TD; Josh Tell, 6-18. Shreve (26-112) Jamarcea Plater, 13-71.

PASSING – Parkway, Ferrington 11-17-0-203, 2 TD. Shreve, Savage 21-40-1-248, 2 TD

RECEIVING – Parkway, Gary Burney 3-72, Josh Coleman 2-63, TD; Chase Crowder 1-29, Camaro Mayo 4-29, Dallas Loche 1-9, TD. Shreve, Shawn Devers 6-71.

---