With last week’s dominant 22-9 road win over the DC Defenders, the Michigan Panthers punched their ticket for a playoff matchup against the Birmingham Stallions in the postseason. Today, the Panthers welcomed the Memphis Showboats to Ford Field for their final home game of the regular season. After losing both EJ Perry and Danny Etling to injuries in recent weeks, Michigan would roll out a committee under center, helmed by the duo of Brian Lewerke and Bryce Perkins.
Also in the building amongst the over 9,300 attendees was another quarterback who played some ball down the road in Ann Arbor back in the day: Tom Brady, who was with the FOX team that called the matchup. Sadly, the Stallions wouldn’t have the luxury of rostering him. Instead, it was a former Spartan under center to start the game.
The Stallions would lean into the run-pass option early in this game. On a 3rd & 1 from their own 49 on the opening drive, the former Spartans QB would fake the handoff to Wes Hills, then roll out right for a connection to Samson Nacua that goes for 29 yards. Just a couple plays later, Lewerke looks to his left to draw off the Showboats coverage, then goes to his main read: Cole Hikutini inside the hashes, who goes to the house for his first touchdown of the season. All it took was five plays, and the Panthers are on the board with 6.
It didn’t take long for Memphis to respond. On the very first play of the Showboats opening drive, Cookus drops back and locates Daewood Davis, who’s working inside on Nate Brooks, burning him just past midfield on the catch along the right sideline. Whitehead Jr. tries to outrace the receiver, but Davis has nothing but green in front of him and makes it to the house for a 65 yard touchdown haul. It’s 6-6 after Memphis fails to convert their extra-point attempt.
After the Panthers respond with another touchdown drive (this one led by Bryce Perkins), it’s the Showboats offense back on the field trying to keep pace. On 1st & 10 from their own 37, Cookus is forced out of the pocket by the pass rush of Kenny Willekes (who is also held) and forces a sailing deep pass towards the sideline for Vinny Papale – but Nate Brooks comes underneath and wins the jump ball. It’s a Panthers INT to get the Michigan offense back on the field.
After a fairly successful start to the drive, continuing to lean into the RPO with Lewerke, the Panthers have a 3rd & 2 at midfield. Showboats linebacker Greg Reaves is able to discard left tackle Jarrett Horst with relative ease, forcing Lewerke to abandon the pocket and get rid of the ball for an incompletion. Michigan punts, with Memphis starting their drive at the 22-yard line.
On 1st & 10 from their own 36, Darius Victor takes the handoff and is met at the line by Walter Palmore, who tosses him to the turf and forces a fumble. Cookus runs to the ball, shoveling it out of bounds around the 30. It’s a 10-yard penalty and loss of down on the play, It’s 2nd & 20 from the 26, and the Showboats ultimately punt.
On 3rd & 8 from their 23, Cookus is forced out of the pocket and heaves a deep ball to the streaking Davis. This time, though, it’s Bryce Torneden who picks up the Showboats go-man, sticking with Davis in stride and challenging the catch to get the Panthers defense off the field. Corrion Ballard slips in coverage and appears to suffer an injury. Memphis punts.
On 2nd & 10 from their 38, Lewerke rolls left and throws toward the sideline for Devin Ross, who is heavily wrapped up by Quenton Meeks. The ruling on the field is an incomplete pass, but Meeks and the Showboats challenge the call, believing they have a big interception. The review booth takes a look, and Meeks doesn’t have control of the ball before it touches the ground. The drive ends in a Panthers punt.
It’s nearing the end of the first half. On 1st & 10 from the 50, Perkins, who has thrived evading tackles in the backfield and operating the RPO, drops back and finds Devin Gray on a beautiful dagger concept by the offense. Hikutini draws one of the safeties on a shallow stop-and-go, while Trey Quinn operates over the top – essentially providing the moving pick while the ball is in the air. It leaves Gray, who Perkins had missed in the endzone earlier in the game, free to work with leverage toward the outside, and it’s another boat race where the runner will not be caught. Perkins to Gray for the touchdown from 50 yards, putting the Panthers up 18-6. The Showboats would get into range for a 55-yard field goal from Matt Coghlin. 18-9 Michigan at the half.
A pivot series of events would kick off the third quarter. After eating a 10-yard sack on the opening play of the half, Cookus bounces back on the very next snap – launching a rocket to Dee Anderson, who manages to wrangle the pass in stride in coverage from Keith Gipson Jr. The 6’6 Anderson wins the matchup against the 6’2 cornerback for a 39 yard reception. The Panthers force a 3rd & 7 at their 31, but Brooks is called for pass interference in coverage on Diondre Overton. A couple of plays later, Josh Love (who’s come in for the injured Cookus) connects with Davis in the endzone for another touchdown. Love is no stranger to the Panthers; he started 9 out of 10 regular season games for Michigan just last season.
We’re just a few plays into the fourth quarter, and it’s the Showboats who have gone on an unanswered 12-0 run (going back to the end of the first half) to tie this ballgame up 18-all. The Panthers offense would get stalled by multiple costly penalties, along with the first missed field goal attempt by Jake Bates at Ford Field (from 51 yards). After struggling through the first three quarters to get much production from their backfield, due at least in some part to the loss of Hills to injury early on, the duo of Perkins and Colburn eventually proves too much for Memphis. Colburn would run for 50 of his 93 yards on the ground in the fourth, along with the game-winning touchdown from 3 yards out.
It wasn’t overly pretty, but credit the Stallions. In their final home game of the year, rolling out their 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks, they managed to get solid, meaningful production out of both. And despite surrendering two touchdowns on the day, the defense played arguably its most complete showing of the season. This is a much different game without the contributions of guys like Bryce Torneden, Kenny Willekes, Breeland Speaks, Walter Palmore, and Sean Mahone – who all had one of their best showings this year.
Your final from Ford Field: Michigan Panthers 24, Memphis Showboats 18
