Pekin football stays unbeaten

The Pekin Panthers were looking to stay unbeaten when they traveled to North Mahaska on Friday, Sept. 15. Before North Mahaska knew what happened, Pekin was already up two scores.

Monico Requena was already having an outstanding season, averaging over one score per game. He got off to another hot start with 47 and 38-yard dashes for touchdowns. That was just the beginning of the Panthers' rout, with Levi Long completing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Chandler Eckley in the first quarter. Eckley recorded another score on a fumbled interception by North Mahaska in the end zone.

While the Pekin offense continued to mount up points, the defense stood strong, limiting North Mahaska to 41 total yards in the opening quarter.

Requena added more yardage in the second-half, with a three-yard scoring run in the third and a 41-yard score in the fourth. In total, he out-rushed the entirety of the North Mahaska offense, 171 yards to 132 yards.

Torell Washington also broke free on a couple runs, totaling 50 yards on four carries. The Panthers tallied 301 yards on offense, 236 coming from the ground game.

Several Panthers flew around the field on defense, shutting out the opponent for a second straight week. Long and Keaton Baayen led the team with six tackles each. Zach Hammes, Skyler Juhl and Kaden Baker each recorded five tackles in the game. Juhl had two of his tackles go for loss of yards.

Pekin will host Cardinal, Eldon for Homecoming on Friday, Sept. 22.