Rangely Jr. High’s Varner, 8th-grader, scores 18 points against Soroco Rams

RANGELY | The Rangely Junior High School football team played at home on Friday, Sept. 1 in front of a great home crowd. The Panthers defeated the Soroco Rams by a score of 44-8. The Panthers began the game off on a high note when eighth-grade defensive end Zane Varner was unblocked and caused a Soroco fumble in the backfield that was recovered by the Panthers inside of the Rams 25-yard line. On their very first play on offense eighth-grader Timothy Scoggins took the hand off and rumbled through the Soroco defense for a touchdown. The Panthers were unsuccessful on their extra point conversion. Again the Panthers defense proved to be too much to handle as Soroco was not able to gain positive yards in their next offensive possession and had to punt after three downs with great stops by eighth-grader Justin Cudo, seventh-grader Kevin Wren and Varner.
The Panthers were able to capitalize once again on offense as Varner steamed into the end zone for the touchdown and also the extra-point conversion to put the Panthers up 14-0 in the first quarter. The Panthers closed out the quarter by a score of 22-0 as Varner added another touchdown and extra point conversion.
Offensively the Panthers were led by eighth-grader Keihlin Myers who scored 12 points for the Panthers, Scoggins scored 14 points and Varner scored 18 points. Defensively the Panthers were led by Scoggins who in the first quarter was able to make the defensive play of the year so far for the Panthers. Scoggins ripped through the line from his nose tackle position and wrapped up the Soroco running back. While driving the Soroco player back, Scoggins stripped the ball and took it into the end zone for the score to put the Panthers up 22-0 with the added two-point conversion by Varner.
As a team the Panthers had to deal with some diversity this week through injuries and players missing due to eligibility but as a team they pushed through and the coaching staff could not be more proud of the young men and what they are becoming on the football field. This week the Panthers will take on the Hayden Tigers in Hayden on Friday at 6 p.m.