By Ryan Atkinson

sports@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. — You can blame what you want — first-game jitters, a jacked-up Southeast defense or a combination. Whatever the culprit, the St. Mary’s-Colgan offense was flat in the first quarter Thursday night.

The rest of the game, well, that’s another story.

The Panthers scored three times in the second quarter and three more times in the third, running away with a 39-0 victory against the Southeast Lancers at Hutchinson Field.

“You know, it didn’t totally surprise me for us to come out a little slow,” Colgan coach Chuck Smith said. “It’s the first game, and Southeast was playing tough on defense, so I can understand that. But I sure was glad to see us get it going.”

And get it going they did.

After a sloppy first quarter that had the two teams combine for three punts, two interceptions and a fumble, the Panthers went to work.

Colgan senior running back Tino King ran the ball four straight times, chewing up 40 yards and setting up quarterback Kenny Wachter’s 2-yard plunge that made it 7-0.

The Panther defense then came up with a turnover, knocking the ball out of Southeast running back Zack Dainty’s hands and recovering it at their own 27.

Three plays later, Wachter hooked up with senior Evan VanBecelaere for a 55-yard touchdown that gave Colgan a 14-0 lead. The Southeast defender made an aggressive play on the ball but came up with nothing, giving VanBecelaere an easy road to the end zone.

“I couldn’t see the ball because (the defender) had his hand in front of it,” said VanBecelaere, who accounted for all four of Wachter’s completions, totaling 69 yards. “Then the ball just kind of popped out of nowhere, and luckily I was able to grab it and stay on my feet.”

VanBecelaere’s touchdown seemed to start a slow deflation of Southeast’s sails, but it was the Colgan defense that tore those sails to pieces.

Just three plays later, junior linebacker Seth Soper stepped in front of a Toby Ulery pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown.

“I thought the momentum kind of started going our way after that second touchdown, and then after Seth ran that back, you could really feel the game change,” Smith said. “That right there may have been the biggest play of the night.”