Chattahoochee County quarterback Marquis Thorton watched an almost sure touchdown slip through the fingers of his receiver during the Panthers’ opening drive Friday at Marion County and came off the sidelines knowing an opportunity was missed in the team’s season opener.

The very first play Marion County ran from scrimmage turned into an 87-yard touchdown run by Eagles junior running back James Taylor, after the Panthers had two chances to wrap him up.

It was that kind of night for the Panthers as the Eagles, the defending Region 4-A champions, went on to steamroll their way to a 49-0 win.

“It hurt us bad,” Thorton said. “We had the momentum that drive, but things started to go downhill.” “We came out and made some mental mistakes. We need to be more disciplined. We do stuff at practice and we’re not doing it in the game.”

“I did not do a good job getting them prepared,” Panthers head coach Russell Morgan said. “Our depth is killing us right now. We’re not where we need to be for the first game. We’re still a few weeks away from being where we need to be.”

The Panthers managed just three first downs and 75 yards of total offense while giving up 330 first -half yards to the Eagles.

Morgan said the Eagles were more physical while his team struggled to get off the ball quick enough and make tackles.

“In the first half, play after play, we’re in perfect position and we missed tackles,” he said. “That’s something we’ll definitely be working on this week. We’ve got to work on rush angles so we don’t lose containment.” The Eagles committed 14 total penalties, which was about the only thing that went wrong for them.

In his first start, Eagles junior quarterback DeMarquez Mallard completed 9 of 11 attempts for 130 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.

Morgan’s first attempt to implement his offensive scheme, a mix of I-formation and spread formation, proved to be difficult against the blitzing Eagles defense, which found its way into the backfield quickly on most plays.

“It’s going to take time,” Morgan said about his offense. “Anytime you start out, it’s not going to click the first game. I was hoping it would look a little better than it did. I thought we would be a much better spread team and I still think we will be, but it’s going to take time.”

The Panthers will play their home opener Friday against Central (Talbotton) with the hopes that their toughest opponent is behind them.

“One game doesn’t make a season, we’ve got to learn from it, put it behind us and move to the next one,” Morgan said.