By BRIAN SHOEMAKER
Herald-Whig Sports Writer

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — With nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and Pana starting a drive at its 15-yard line, the Pittsfield football team believed it would get one final chance to keep its season alive.

But the clock just wouldn't stop.

Neither would the Panthers.

Four times on its final drive, Pana converted on third down, maintaining possession the entire nine minutes and running out the clock on the Saukees' season with a 12-8 victory in Saturday's Class 3A first-round playoff game at Glenn C. Smith Field.

"We just have to muster it up and make two more stops and the ball is ours with 1:30 to score," Pittsfield linebacker Sam Ghrist said. "It wouldn't be that hard. (Pana) made the big plays when they needed to."

None was bigger than on third down with 1:40 to play.

The Panthers, who had kept the 20-play drive alive earlier with a 21-yard run on third down by Brett Amling, converted their last third down with Philip Arnold's 6-yard run. Four plays later, facing fourth down, Pana quarterback Cody McLaughlin ran backward 31 yards to run out the clock.

Pana was 4 of 5 on third-down conversions on that drive and 10 of 14 overall. Pittsfield converted just 1 of 8 attempts.

"We watched game tape on (Pana). We prepared well all week for them," Ghrist said. "I knew they weren't going to be a pushover. One thing we did get was that they were an off and on team. Today they were on."

Pittsfield wasn't. The Saukees managed just 21 yards of offense in the first half, falling behind 12-0 as Amling made the most of his return to the lineup. After missing the final three weeks of the regular season with an injury, Amling piled up 87 yards on 17 carries, including a 12-yard scoring run.

"(Amling) gives us a lot more flexibility, we don't have to have Arnold in for every play," Pana coach Al Stupek said.

Amling wanted to spread the credit.

"It was a big day for our offense," Amling said. "Our line made big holes and we just ran hard through them."

Pana outrushed Pittsfield 197-110 and finished with 234 total yards.

"We knew they were going to be good defensively," Pittsfield coach Don Bigley said. "As well as they moved the ball on us in the first half, that was probably something that we weren't anticipaitng. They handled us up front, we made some adjustments at halftime and our kids showed some heart."

The biggest adjustment was to shift to a wildcat offense.

Trailing 12-0, the Saukees began directly snapping the ball to running back Devon Johnson. The formation caught Pana off guard as Johnson ran 47 yards for a touchdown with just one second remaining in the third quarter.

Johnson finished with 85 yards on 14 carries as Pittsfield managed just seven first downs.

"It's just a really tough loss, Bigley said. "There's not one person that was on our sideline that doesn't have a sick feeling inside right now."

— sports@whig.com/221-3365