How often has it happened? More often than you might think.

A team with no losses goes up against a team with no wins and bingo, suddenly both teams score a first.

That was the story at Alba Friday night when the Alba-Golden Panthers hosted the All Saints Trojans from Tyler. The Cats went into the contest with a hard earned 2-0 record and the Trojans came into the game with a disappointing 0-2 record.

In the first two games of the year Alba-Golden had to come from behind to defeat Hawkins and Mount Enterprise, but coach Ron Callahan’s very game crew couldn’t pull the comeback trick for a third consecutive week in spite of a valiant effort, and wound up on the short end of the stick, 34-24, in a nonconference contest.

“We had two hard, tough games the first two weeks,” Callahan commented after Friday night’s loss. “We didn’t get anybody really hurt seriously or anything like that, but we got pretty beat up. We have a lot of kids that are really sore and tired. Hard games like these really tell on you,” he added.

Callahan said he was still very proud of his young team even though they did sustain a loss. “I was proud of the way they came back and fought hard. We only had four seniors on the field in the second half. We have a lot of young kids who are having to grow up fast and they are coming along very nicely. It just takes time and game experience,” Callahan observed.

The Panthers are utilizing two sophomore quarterbacks with no previous varsity experience right now because returning starter Brady Rolen sustained a broken leg in the summer and is still on the sidelines. In his absence Thomas Mitchel and Zane Smith have done yeoman duty filling in a big gap. Rolen has been released for non-contact drills and is due to have another exam by his doctors next week, at which time it is hoped he will be released for full duty.

And, as if having faced three hard games in a row was not enough, the Panthers will be facing a gigantic mountain to climb this Friday night when they celebrate homecoming by hosting the high flying Price Carlisle Indians at 7:30 p.m. The Indians are 3-0 after waxing Overton, 49-27, last Friday. The Tribe opened the season with a 45-6 win over Mount Enterprise and followed that with a 65-0 shellacking of Colmesneil.

After playing Carlisle this week, the Panthers will face Rivercrest High at Bogata Sept. 23 before taking a week off and then starting district play at Lone Oak Oct. 7.

Alba-Golden and the Trojans battled on even terms through the first quarter with the score knotted at 8-8, but in the second quarter the Panthers only managed to run 9 offensive plays while the Trojans recorded two touchdowns and a field goal to make the count bounce up to 24-8 by intermission. Each team managed to score once in the third period and went into the final 12 minutes of play with All Saints holding a 27-16 advantage. A fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter set the Trojans up at the Panther 26 and it only took one play for quarterback Tanner Towns to sweep left end for the final All Saints score of the game.

The Panthers got their final score of the game on a 20-yard pass from David Pennington to Fredrick Reeves with nine seconds left to play. For the night Reeves had five receptions for 104 yard and Evan Galyean had one reception for 45 yards and one TD. Pennington, who operates as a running back for the Panthers, on the night completed three of four passes for 105 and two touchdowns.

One of the more exciting plays of the game came late in the third quarter when All Saints running back Garrett Brown charged around left end with the ball, but during the stop Alba-Golden’s Frederick Arenas managed to wrestle the pigskin away from him and return it 46 yards for a Panther touchdown.