
Ethan Blevins picks up a first down for Gillespie as he carries the ball on a rushing attempt.
The Gillespie High School football team drops to 2-1 on the season after a 12-35 loss on the road last Friday evening in Pana.
Sloppy field conditions and questionable calls cannot entirely be held accountable for the loss as the team’s offense committed three interceptions, two turnovers on downs and forced to punt the ball away on fourth down on four separate occasions.
With the victory, Pana takes first place in the South Central Conference with a 3-0 record. Gillespie and Hillsboro, who were the other two teams with a perfect 2-0 record after week two, both fall to 2-1 on the season. Hillsboro lost 34-7 to Roxana (1-2) Friday evening.
First Half
Pana’s defense swarmed Gillespie’s offense in the first half and successfully held the Miners scoreless through two quarters of play. The Miners tallied six offensive drives in the first half and picked up only six first downs throughout the 24 minutes of play.

Corey McCalister (#2) makes the tackle for Gillespie with assistance from Josh Balzraine (#6).
Gillespie was in scoring distance once in both quarters, but came up short both times because of an interception – the first time in the first quarter nearly 15 years away from the end zone and the second time in the second quarter nearly 17 yards away from the end zone.
Pana didn’t do much better after a handful of bad snaps in the first half, but they were able to take an early 0-7 lead nine minutes through the first quarter after a 2-yard rushing touchdown and successful extra point.
Second Half
After trailing just 0-7 at halftime, Gillespie was behind 0-21 by the end of the third quarter and didn’t score their first touchdown until the fourth quarter. Pana took a 0-13 lead in the opening drive of the second half off a 13-yard touchdown run and later extended their lead 0-21 on a 7-yard touchdown run and successful fake extra point attempt for a two-point conversion with nearly five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Miners were unsuccessful on both of their drives in the third quarter after the first drive amounted to fourth down and 27 yards to go and their second drive ended with a turnover on downs 12 yards away from the end zone.
Gillespie cut the deficit in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter after Bryce McKinney recovered a fumble and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown, bringing the score to 6-21, but Pana wasn’t done scoring yet. The Panthers extended their lead 6-28 after returning an interception and later 6-35 after intercepting the ball again on Gillespie’s next drive and scoring off a 60-yard passing play.
Logan Redmon brought the Miners in double-digit scoring figures with a 41-yard rushing touchdown on the team’s last drive of the game with 1:51 remaining.
Around the South Central Conference
In other conference action last Friday:
- Litchfield (1-2) beat Piasa (1-2), 15-14, for their first win of the season
- Carlinville (2-1) spanked Greenville (1-2), 56-26
- Vandalia (2-1) shut out Staunton (0-3), 43-0
- Roxana (1-2) gave Hillsboro (2-1) their first loss of the season, 34-7
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