Mart offense drops ball, defense steps up

By Jason Orts

For all the talk about how good Mart is and always seems to be at the skill positions, one team has always had the ability to stop the Panthers — themselves.

Mart coach Rusty Nail has said on more than one occasion during his tenure at the school that the Panthers are a really good football team when they don’t turn the ball over.

Thankfully for them, their defense picked up the slack Friday when the Panthers turned it over six times — five fumbles and an interception — in a 21-8 win over Italy.

“We put the defense on a short field all night,” Nail said. “We gave Italy the ball in or near the red zone two or three times, and the defense held them out all night until (late in the fourth quarter).”

Despite the sketchy offensive performance, Mart moved up from No. 3 to second in this week’s Associated Press Class 1A poll.

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