Panthers Roll Over Dansville in Season Finale

The Stockbridge football team wrapped up its season in impressive fashion Friday night as the Panthers rolled to its second straight shutout 37-0 over Dansville.

The back-to-back shutouts to end the season was the first time since 1988 when Stockbridge started the season with three straight shutouts.

The Panthers finished the season with a 6-3 record, their best record since 2015 when they finished 7-3.

In the past, the 6-3 record would have qualified Stockbridge for the playoffs, but the MHSAA changed to a playoff point format two years ago and the six wins did not earn the Panthers enough points to finish in the top 32 of D6.

Stockbridge opened quickly against the Aggies with 21 first quarter points and never looked back Friday night.

Drew Robinson ran in a pair of six-yard TD runs to open things up and then connected with Brock Rochow for a 21-yard scoring pass. Three Joey Ballagh extra points gave the Panthers a 21-0 lead after one.

The teams were scoreless in the second, but the Panthers defense got in on the fun with a 33-yard interception return by Gary Killinger for a 28-0 lead after three.

Robinson ran one in from four yards out for his third touchdown of the night and Ballagh finished the scoring with a 25-yard field goal to make the final 37-0.

The Panther defense was dominant, holding the Aggies to just 107 yards on the night.

Robinson rushed for 129 yards and three scores and tossed for 117 yards on 7 of 12 passing and a TD.

Rochow caught three passes for 60 yards and a TD, Zach Fletcher three for 49, and Ethan Monaghan one for 8.

Killinger led the team in tackles with 9, while Travis Salyer and Monaghan each had five.

The future is bright for this young Panthers team. They graduate just three seniors off of this year’s squad.

The question mark for the future is as of right now, the Panthers will not have a league to play in next season with the folding of the GLAC. Lakewood, Leslie, Olivet, and Maple Valley are all moving to other leagues, leaving just Stockbridge and Perry behind in football.

An independent schedule would be hard to fill and could mean a lot of traveling for the Panthers. The choices for local leagues in thin for a school the size of Stockbridge. The Cascades is the most fitting for the Panthers, but it has already added four teams over the next two seasons and is unlikely to bring Stockbridge in.

The CMAC is probably the other top choice for the Panthers. The league has an odd number of teams and sliding Stockbridge in would be rather easy. The main issue with the CMAC would be Stockbridge would be one of the larger schools in the league and the playoff points system would hurt the Panthers as it did this season with several D7 and D8 schools in the league. It would require the Panthers to play much larger schools in non-league contests to try to make up for playoff points they would lose for smaller schools.

A decision has to be made on whether to try to play with an awkward independent schedule or push hard to get in the CMAC and struggle for points to get into the state playoffs.

That being said, football is the only sport that would be affected by the size of the teams in the CMAC. All other sports are a good fit for that league and most already play several teams in the conference.

Photos by Dawn McCann