Panthers ready for breakout year

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By ALEX SPONSELLER

The Johnston football team entered the 2019 season as a wild card in Division II, featuring a young lineup and a new group of playmakers.

The Panthers struggled, finishing with a 1-5 record and missing the postseason.

Now, in 2021, much of the same core returns including quarterback Hunter Remington and wideout Thomas Zednik, who emerged as one of the top duos in the division down the stretch last season.

“So far so good, we’re just happy to be out there. We have a lot of skill guys coming back which helps. No doubt (we’ve seen maturation). Any time as a coaching staff you get to return most starters it’s rare. In a season that’s short, it’s important that those guys have that experience,” said Johnston head coach Joe Acciardo. “We’ll have Hunter at quarterback, Thomas split out. Fortunately we have most of our names filled in, some years you have to gamble and guess on kids, but this season we already had a pretty good idea of who was playing where.”

The team has been motivated to right the ship after a disappointing campaign last season. Although the Panthers can only go up from here, Acciardo believes that there will be added pressure in the heightened expectations.

“Teams are going to have years, especially in high school, where you have returners or you don't have returners and you have to rebuild. This is one of those years where we have returners, there’s no excuses. You’re always trying to get the most out of every team, and now, we have to look at what didn’t go well last year and what we have to improve on,” said Acciardo.

The two biggest areas of concern will be defense and blocking on offense. The Panthers were one of the better offensive units in 2019 but regularly fell behind early and often in shootouts. 

“The thing that we’re concentrating on this year is defense, we have to play better and have a better mindset, more aggressive. Our offense, at some point was able to put points up last year. We just always allowed more points than we put up,” said Acciardo. “If we can get (three and outs) and put the ball back into our offense’s hands, that’s like double dipping. Our offensive line also needs to step up. When teams were aggressive with us, that’s when we got in trouble at times. Offensive line and defense … we’ve put a lot of emphasis on that.”

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