Panthers get back on track with rout

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GRIFFITH — Statistically, Griffith has the most impressive numbers of any sub-.500 team in the area.

And if you asked Panthers coach Russ Radtke, he would tell you his team should have been 5-1 coming into Friday’s game against Highland, not 2-4.

And frankly, Radtke is shocked that his green squad is in the predicament of being subpar.

But as any coach would admit, as long as the team is progressing in the right direction and improving week to week, that’s what matters most. Griffith (3-4, 2-3 NCC) took another step in the right direction as it defeated winless Highland 43-0 on Friday.

“Every statistic that we have, offense, defense, averaging 330 yards a game, passing, the whole shot is not indicative of our record,” Radtke said. “The only problem we are having is in the second quarter we are being beat 42-12.

“There is no way that anyone can look at our stats and say that we are 2-4 coming into this game. And that’s the way we have to look at things as well.”

Defeating the Trojans will help bridge the gap moving forward as the Highland defense was no match for the wishbone attack that was orchestrated by freshman quarterback Greg Joyce. Joyce carried the ball 17 times for 103 yards.

He scored twice on runs of five and 38 yards. He added a passing touchdown when he connected with Mark Butkus on a 26-yarder during the second quarter, giving Grffith a 21-0 lead heading into halftime.

Senior tailback Ed Johnson complemented Joyce’s effort by rushing for 128 yards of his own and scoring three touchdowns. Griffith finished the night with 311 total yards on the ground and 91 more in the air as Joyce finished the night going 5-of-8.

Highland (0-7, 0-4 NCC) finished with 80 yards of offense as the growing pains continue for the young and injury-riddled Trojans.

“We have sophomores at quarterback and will continue having growing pains and it’s going to be difficult,” Highland coach Eric Miller said. “But we saw a couple of good things in the first half from Matt Holloway who made some better reads but we need to see more consistency from him.”

Holloway finished with 23 yards rushing and 5 yards passing.