Current and former Alba-Golden students had plenty of thrills last Friday as the Panthers steamrolled the James Bowie Pirates, 53-6. The homecoming win was a great tune-up for Friday’s district opener against the visiting Como-Pickton Eagles. 

The most notable aspect of the lopsided win was the accuracy of quarterback Sam Olson. 

One week after setting a school record for combined yardage, Olson dazzled the crowd, especially when throwing the deep ball. 

The junior quarterback went 7 for 12 pass attempts for 195 yards and three touchdowns. He connected with Boogie Trimble for a 50-yard gain, Wyatt Sutton for a 58-yard score and Garrett Wright for a 36-yard score. 

Olson demonstrates sound judgement, passing accuracy (especially when rolling out) and can pick up yardage on the ground like a halfback.

Granted, James Bowie is in one of those cyclic downturns that affect all high school football programs, but the Panthers still had to execute. The timing of deep pass plays is something which is tough to get right, regardless of opponent. The Panthers are synched up in this aspect of their game at just the right time.

Alba-Golden found the end zone on all eight of their possessions in the game. The score was 41-0 at the half, and the clock was never stopped in the second half. The Panthers totaled 477 yards from scrimmage; the Pirates managed 107.

The Panthers’ scoring summary included a 24-yard strike from Olson to Wright; a 23-yard carry by Luke Jones – who made a great cut at the 5-yard line; a 7-yard carry by Trimble; a 75-yard scoop-and-score by Wright; a 60-yard sprint by Cooper Christian who accelerated untouched around the right end; the 58-yard scoring strike to Sutton; a 36-yard beauty that Olson dripped in to the hands of Wright; and a 1-yard wedge play toted over the goal-line by Ayden Blalock. 

The Panthers had the challenge of facing an offense built around a full-house backfield. While the Pirates never posed a threat, simply the experience of facing that scheme and having to adapt to the quick-hitting nature of that formation will serve the Panthers well in the district campaign.

Of note, Hector Delgadillo spelled defensive tackle Jaxon Carver for about half the game and performed well. 

As with all games, Coach Webster and his staff will have plenty learning points from this game. Among those will surely include taking the proper angles to tackle runners on the edge and blocking schemes to protect the point-after-touchdown kick attempts.

Como-Pickton comes to Panther Stadium with a 1-3 record. They blanked Trenton Friday after having dropped their first three games of the year to Union Grove, Big Sandy and Cumby. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. Friday.