The Honey Grove Warriors came to Panther Stadium Friday and notched another win with a 41-7 defeat of the Alba-Golden Panthers. 

Honey Grove is 7-1 on the season, with that single loss being at the hands of Winnsboro. Alba-Golden stands at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in district with three games remaining. 

The Warriors win with defense. They have given up on average only 11.5 points per game and only 6.75 points against district opponents. 

It was defense which carried the day for the Warriors once again. Honey Grove surrendered only 141 yards to the Panthers, scored a defensive touchdown on a 50-yard scoop-and-score and gave up only one touchdown.

The Warriors defense slanted linemen and linebackers into the Panther backfield on almost every play. Wrecking the timing of the Panthers offense was clearly their intent. 

The Panthers were ready to challenge Honey Grove, but early mistakes put them in a quick hole. A facemask penalty on the visitors first drive put the ball down at the Alba-Golden 9-yard line. The Warriors scored on a quarterback draw on the next play. 

The Panthers played some quality defense on the next Warrior possession, but a deep pass put the ball down inside the Panthers’ 5-yard line. Panther Alex Pfingsten came within a whisker of sacking the quarterback on that long heave. Honey Grove scored on the following play.  

Just before the quarter break, the scoop-and-score built a 20-0 margin, and Honey Grove was in a frenzy.

The very high and short kick-off was fumbled and the Warriors took over again at midfield. They scored 11 plays later on a nicely-executed screen pass. 

The Panthers mounted their first concerted drive of the game, moving 50 yards with a combination of run and pass. From deep in Warrior territory consecutive attempts to hit Wyatt Sutton on a slant route went awry and the ball was turned over on downs. 

Honey Grove burned over five minutes on a long scoring drive to make the score 34-0 at the half.

The Panthers acquitted themselves well in the second half. Each team scored once on two possessions apiece. The visitors scored on a 68-yard drive early in the fourth, while the Panthers drove 60 yards to get on the board.

Some strong running by Cameron Lennon and a connection between quarterback Sam Olson and LB Jones featured in the drive. 

On a fourth-and-10 from the Honey Grove 19-yard line, Lennon lofted a halfback pass to Boogie Trimble who was wide open in the fieldhouse corner of the east end zone.

Three games remain on the Panthers’ schedule. They travel to Cooper Friday, host Paul Pewitt Nov. 1 and finish at Boles Nov. 8.