Two seasons ago, Blanco enjoyed a 10-win season and a trip to the regional semifinals. The 2018 success helped erase the pain of two straight losing seasons. Last season, however, the Panthers slipped again, finishing 4-6 and missing the playoffs after losing three of their final four games.

What a difference a year makes.

After pulling out a thrilling 41-40 overtime win Friday against 4A, D1 Fischer Canyon Lake, the 3A-1 Panthers are 5-1 with an opportunity to catch their breath with a bye before beginning District 13-3A-1 play on Oct. 16 against Luling.

Against Canyon Lake, Blanco pulled out all of the proverbial stops. A Wing-T team that keeps its passing to a minimum (the Panthers average less than 10 passes per game), Blanco threw four touchdown passes to get the win. The 2020 Panthers have already thrown as many TD passes (10) as they had all of 2019.

“It’s what we had to do with what Canyon Lake had in the middle and their team speed,” Blanco coach Bill Tesch said. “We knew we were going to throw the ball more, and we can throw it and catch it on most nights.”

In a see-saw battle, Baylor Smith tossed a career-best three touchdown passes to stake Blanco to a 34-27 lead. Canyon Lake tied on the final play of regulation when Peyton McMullen hit Jeremy Greene for a touchdown and Dalton Stanley converted the extra point. In overtime, Canyon Lake scored first on a 12-yard run by Ryan Rivali, but Stanley’s kick missed.

Trailing 40-34, Blanco wen to work, but Smith dislocated a finger on the second play of overtime. The Panthers got a crucial fourth down conversion from Devin Newsome, and Gavin Young connected with Cody Cross for a 19-yard touchdown. Blanco kicker Nathan Tomlinson, who’d missed to PATs in regulation, converted to spark the Panthers’ celebration.

The win enables Blanco to continue to build its confidence after last season’s struggles. The biggest difference, Tesch said, has been size in the middle of the defense, led by Mason Groff and Daniel Jaimes, and improved strength throughout the program.

“When you look at how we went from 10-3 to 4-6, the biggest thing was that we lost a lot of size,” he said. “That’s what we needed most last year, and this year we’ve got it.”

They’ve also got a deep stable of offensive playmakers, which might be necessary depending on Smith’s health moving forward. Eight players, including Smith’s younger brother Carson (116 yards and 2 TDs against Canyon Lake), have already rushed for more than 100 yards, and Brandon Gombert and Deonte Hector anchor a defense that has held four opponents to nine points or fewer.

“We think we can do a lot of different things on offense,” Tesch said. “It might be someone different every week depending on what the defense wants to do against us.”

The coach won’t let the Panthers spend much time basking in their early success. He knows – as do the players – that the next four games decide whether the season will be a success or just one with more wins that the last. They enjoyed the win over Canyon Lake, but by the end of Saturday’s film session, the focus had already shifted toward the next opponent – Luling.

“We told the team that now, everyone [in our district] is 0-0,” Tesch said. “We’re fortunate because we’ve got an open week this week to work on correcting all the things we didn’t do right in the first six weeks. We’ve got the two weeks to prepare for Luling, and that’s all we’re thinking about right now.”