By Matt M. Stutz
As part of 2023 Homecoming festivities, the Pandora-Gilboa Rockets (4-2) football team hosted Worthington Christian in a non-conference game. P-G fell behind early but it was all Rockets the rest of the way, as they gave the home crowd much to celebrate, cruising to a 48-14 win.
The Warriors received the opening kickoff and quickly went up 7-0. P-G responded on their ensuing drive, capping it off with a 31-yard touchdown run up the middle by tailback Ben Burkholder. Skyler Richardson tied things up at 7-7 with the extra point kick.
The Rockets then took the lead for good at 14-7 when quarterback Cory Gerten tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Morris with 5:20 left in the first quarter. Gerten and Morris then connected a second time in the second quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass reception, to go up 20-7. The Warriors would close the gap at 20-14, before P-G running back Andrew Miller punched it in on a tough run from 12 yards out for a touchdown with just fifty seconds remaining before the half and a 27-14 halftime advantage.
P-G shutout the Warriors in the second half as they piled up 21 unanswered points. A 23-yard touchdown pass-and-catch from Gerten to Morris, put the P-G up 34-14 with 4:04 left in the third. Morris immediately turned around on defense and intercepted a Worthington Christian pass attempt and returned it forty-seven yards to the W-C one yard line. It was “Miller Time” from there: Miller took the handoff and bulldozed his way the final three feet to the endzone. With 2:59 left in quarter number three, the Rockets were up 41-14.
Miller, who totaled 116 yards on seventeen carries for the game, capped off the night’s scoring and his big night early in the fourth quarter with a 3-yard scoring run. The final touchdown, Miller’s third of the game earned him the “Pandora Contracting Hard Working Player of the Game” and instituted a continuous running clock the rest of the way. Richardson was perfect kicking in the second half going 3-for-3.
Next up, the Rockets will stay home this Friday night September 29 for a Blanchard Valley Conference battle against Van Buren (2-4).
