Doing pushups never felt any better. The Washington 8U Panthers pumped out 26 pushups at their end of their game Saturday — one for each point they scored — but nobody was complaining as the offensive output helped them topped the Greenville Titans 26-12 in the second round of the Community Youth Football League playoffs to advance to the Super Bowl.
“Our guys stepped up today,” Panthers coach Ray Pippen said. “Greenville came out with a completely different game plan today and they threw us some stuff that we had a tough time making adjustments too, but our guys made good adjustments and our team stepped up and I was really proud of the way they played.”
Terry Moore led the charge as he had two three-yard touchdown runs to go along with his 40-yarder to help he Panthers punch their ticket to the big game.
“Terry got tired after two long runs were called back for penalties but he never gives up,” Pippen said. “He plays hard whether he gets the ball or not. He’s going to be an exciting kid to watch as he gets older.”
Hayes Pippen added a 1-yard TD run and a two-point conversion for the Panthers (7-1) to complete the scoring.
Washington fell behind 6-0 in the late first quarter when Montez Green scored on a 24-yard scamper.
The Panthers responded in the second quarter as Moore scored his first TD before Pippen reached the end zone at the 3:30 mark to take a 12-6 lead.
Greenville answered with a 15-yard TD pass right before the half to tie it at 12 going into the break.
In the second half, the Washington defense clamped down on the Titans, while the offense produced two scores to seal the deal.
“Braxton Boyd, our nose guard, did a great job. Chase and Casey Alligood, our defensive ends both did a what they were supposed to do and all of our linebackers played well,” Pippen said.
Pippen also praised the work of his offensive line, which helped pave the way for four rushing touchdowns.
“Khamari (Rodman), Braxton, Chase (Williams), Austin (Cherry), Messiah (Ebron) and all the guys up front did a great job today,” Pippen said.
Greenville threatened late in the fourth quarter but the Panthers defense came up big as they forced and recovered a fumble, which led to a score, and then came up with a key red zone stop late in the game.
The Panthers will advance to next week’s Super Bowl where they will face the Washington Raiders.

Titans    6    6    0    0    —    12
Panthers    0    12    6    8    —    26
Scoring summary
T — Montez Green 24 run (two points failed), :59, 1st.
P — Terry Moore 3 run (two points failed), 7:21, 2nd.
P — Hayes Pippen 1 run (two points failed), 3:30, 2nd.
G — No. 87 15 yard pass reception (two points failed), :10, 2nd.
P — Moore 40 run (two points failed), 6:55, 3rd.
P — Moore 3 run (Pippen two points), 2:06, 4th.