Republished from the Columbia Missourian

The Rock Bridge football team lost its first game of the season against the Raymore-Peculiar Panthers on Friday, 27-14.

The Panthers took a quick 2-0 lead after sacking Bruins quarterback Logan Twehous in his own end zone. Touchdowns by senior tailback Freeman Simmons and junior wide receiver Zach Reuter gave the Bruins a 14-13 lead, their first of the evening.

“They had a good game plan,” Coach Donnell Jones said. “We also had a good game plan, but it comes down to execution. They had turnovers go their way. We missed some plays out there.”

The Bruins have faced difficult opposition to begin the season. They had already defeated highly ranked opponents De Smet and Har-Ber (Arkansas) before this first loss.

“That’s the coaches’ mentality,” Jones said. “Have a hard schedule, play tough teams and it’ll harden you for later on in the year when you try to make a run in the playoffs. I think it makes us better in the long run.”

Coach Jones felt that the Panthers advantage over Rock Bridge in the turnover column was key to their victory.

“Outside of the turnovers, they’re a methodical team,” he said. “They’re a get two here, get four here, get seven here type of team, so taking advantage of turnovers was, I think, the turning point of the game tonight. “

He also believes in his team’s ability to react positively to their first loss as they prepare for its in-town rival Hickman.

“Losses can be taken two ways,” he said. “Losses can be something that you dwell on and feel sad about, or something where you take a good bite of humble pie and prepare for next week. We’ll look at film tomorrow, see what went wrong and be ready for a big game next week.”

Original: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/153419/rock-bridge-suffers-first-defeat-of-season/ (with paywall)