Northwest Falls Hard to Mehlville, 43-7

The Northwest Lions scored their first touchdown of the year after a deflected pass from Adnan Al-Amami to Nick Wideman that went 61 yards to the 1-yard line. Kenny Stibor took it in the end zone from there.

But Mehlville already had a 30-0 lead at the time, and the Panthers didn't let up in a 43-7 win over the Lions.

"We had fundamental mistakes on offense and defense and we had some breakdowns on special teams early on," Northwest coach Scott Gerling said. "It got their confidence going and it was the reverse for us. They have some good size up front and some speed. They will cause some problems in the conference."

It's a season opener that Mehlville junior Dwayne Lewis will never forget.

The junior scored a pair of touchdowns rushing and another on a pass interception return in his first varsity game, as the Panthers opened their 2011 season with a 43-7 Suburban West Conference victory over Northwest.

"I felt it coming," Lewis said. "I'm really happy."

Lewis had plenty to be happy about not only with his individual performance but that of his team.

"I think we should be pretty good this year," Lewis said. "Our defense was really solid tonight. We were flying to the ball."

Lewis considers himself a middle linebacker first and foremost, but the 6-foot, 1-inch, 230-pounder also proved valuable on offense in the red zone.

He scored a pair of first-half touchdowns on runs of one and four yards.

But his signature play came in the first minute of the fourth quarter when he stepped in front of a Northwest running back, intercepted a pass and walked into the end zone from two yards out.

"It was a screen and I saw the running back check out of the backfield and just stepped in front of him," Lewis said.

It was only fitting that the defense scored a touchdown as it was dominant throughout the game.

Chayse Brown also had two rushing touchdowns.

Panther special teams set the tone for the game as they blocked a Lions punt and had a good return to set up the game's first 10 points.

Panther coach Eric Meyer was happy with the victory but not happy with the flag fest that slowed the game down to a crawl in the third quarter.

"We got sloppy and we need to sharpen some things up," Meyer said. "But we also did some good things. I was happy with the way that defense played tonight."

Mehlville will host Eureka in its home opener next Friday night. Eureka lost its opener Friday to Lafayette, 35-21.

Northwest will look for its first win of the season next Friday as it hosts Vianney.

Check out more photos from the game on our Facebook page.