Panther Creek prepares for big season without star QB Odom
Posted August 2, 2022 4:09 p.m. EDT
Cary, N.C. — Everything was setting up for Panther Creek football to have a landmark season.
The Catamounts were set to bring back many key pieces from a 2021 team that went 10-4, made the third round of the playoffs and there lost to the eventual 4A state champions from Cardinal Gibbons.
"We did a lot of growing during the season," head coach Sean Crocker said if 2021. "The experiences that we had early in the season helped us to have a pretty good run during the playoffs."
That all took a major hit during the basketball season, when senior quarterback Amari Odom suffered a torn ACL that will cause him to miss the entirety of the 2022 football season.
Odom was set to be one of the top returning passers in the state, coming off of a season in which he threw for 3,729 yards and 40 touchdowns.
Now, there's a hole on the field, as the Catamounts will have to move on with a new quarterback and work toward getting the offensive unit in a position to replicate some of last year's success.
"We hate it so much for Amari," Crocker said. "Great young man, phenomenal football player... We're going to miss his leadership."
But there isn't necessarily a hole on the team, as Odom is focused on continuing his role as a leader, even if that's from the sideline and not on the field.
"He'll be on the sidelines," Crocker said. "He'll help coaching quarterbacks during the year. But on the field, on Friday nights, we're going to miss him big time... He'll be there emotionally and mentally."
Even without Odom, the Catamounts still have reason to believe in their upside.
Last year's leading rusher Kalen Luten returns for his junior season after breaking the 700-yard mark last year, and he can offer key stability in the backfield.
Joining him in that backfield will be new starting quarterback Will Clancy, a junior.
"Will is thrust into a role that he wasn't expecting to have," Crocker said. "The team's going to rally around him. Our guys are accustomed to fighting through adversity. We're going to turn a negative into a positive."
Edge rusher Tyler Thompson will lead the defensive unit fresh off of his commitment to play in college for UNC. Thompson is also a member of the Panther Creek basketball team, and his athleticism makes him a unique threat to get to the quarterback.
"I have high expectations of us," Thompson said of the unit. "We've just got to come together and we'll be good."
Two of the offense's top three receivers return as well, with senior Bradley Garrity and junior Sergio Castellon back in the fold after each catching double-digit touchdowns last season.
The Catamounts will have two difficult non-conference tests to open the season, taking on Hillside and Leesville Road in the first two weeks.
After a non-conference game against Jordan, Panther Creek will start play in the SWAC, the league in which they finished third a season ago.
To win the league this year, the Catamounts will have to stave off the teams they finished ahead of and surpass Holly Springs and Middle Creek.
"We want to represent the school as best we can," Crocker said. "But also guys want to do it for Amari, because it's hard watching your senior year while you're out and you were planning to be a big part of it."
