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Sports

Parkdale Blasts High Point in First Game

The Parkdale Panthers beat High Point 47-6 on Saturday.

Although school is back in session, it certainly still felt like summer at the Parkdale football field on Saturday, as 80-plus temperatures blasted the newly-lined but heat-worn grass. The affair was the season opening football game between the Parkdale Panthers (1-0) and the High Point Eagles (0-1), a match that the home team won handily by a final score of 47-6.

Over the last month, Parkdale coach Rich Holzer has consistently told Patch how heavily he plans to rely on his passing game this season.

"We want to throw the ball 50 or 60 times per game," he said on Aug. 8.

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It was not clear until Saturday, just how serious he was.

While the Panthers' first touchdown of the day came thanks to a blocked punt recovery, rather than via the arm of junior quarterback Bejoe Mundit, it was Mundit's aerial attack that shined throughout the rest of the afternoon. His first touchdown pass, a 41-yard bomb to Kenny Miles, was followed by a two-point conversion, putting Parkdale ahead 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

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By the close of the game, Mundit had connected with receivers on 11 of 16 attempts, recording five touchdowns and 273 total passing yards. Clearly, his 16 passes were far less than Holzer's projected number. That however, can be attributed to the ease with which Parkdale marched down the field all afternoon.

"On offense we just started taking advantage of the mismatches that we had on the outside with our tall receivers," Holzer said after the game. "It's tough to match up with them. They're tall, they're fast, they have great hands and they go get the ball."

Just as prominent as Parkdale's offense, was High Point's complete incompetence on both sides of the ball. From the opening kick off, in which the Eagles' coaches were frantically realigning players as the game's first whistle was blown, it was quite clear that the team, which has not won a game over the last two seasons, may well be on its way to tanking a third.

While the anemic play of High Point surely contributed to the blowout, the defensive ferocity of Parkdale should not be overlooked. Prior to Holzer's decision to bench the starting unit in the fourth quarter, the Panther defense allowed the Eagles just three first downs all game.

"The defense stepped up," Mundit said. "At first they were slacking a little in our scrimmages, but we've got it now."

While the scoreboard was never a contentious issue throughout the contest, the afternoon was not drama-free. With 21 seconds remaining in the third quarter, a High Point freshman free safety attempted to take down Parkdale's Andrew Green, a six-foot-four, 240 pound senior tight end. The result was a concussion, and a nearly 25-minute delay in game play as the Eagle had to leave the field in an ambulance.

"He had full use of his extremities. He was lucid and conscious [when he left]," Holzer said. "Unfortunately he had major neck pain and was really stiff and didn't know where he was for a little bit."

The injured Eagle received a standing ovation from the Parkdale crowd as the ambulance left the field.

Despite the lopsided victory, Holzer is allowing no time for celebration this week, as next Saturday Parkdale will take on defending regional champion Wise High School.

"We've just got to realize that this game is over," he said. "We came out and played close to the way to wanted to. The kids know that the real test is going to be next week when we face that Wise team. They're disciplined, tough, fast and strong. Everybody knows that if you want to do anything in this conference you've got to go through them."

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