A week after a devastating loss to rival Porter in the final seconds, the football team plans to regroup on the road. The Panthers (2-1) will take on Baytown Sterling (2-1) at Stallworth Stadium at 7 p.m. tonight.

“It’s our first away game and I think the distractions won’t be there like the ones we faced during homecoming week, which hopefully prepares the team even better to finish a full game and not let up in the second half,” offensive coordinator Scott Elliott said. “We didn’t play a full game, and being on the road helps more to finish.”

Last week, Kingwood Park led Porter at halftime, 14-0. In the second half, Porter came back to tie it in the fourth quarter with 3 minutes to go. The Spartans won the game by scoring a touchdown with 13 seconds to play. 

 “We’re pretty upset, I feel like our mindset shifted during the second half,” said Senior running back Brayden Moronko, who scored one of the team’s three touchdowns in the game. “I think we’re going to be more physical this week and make less mistakes. Staying focused and keeping your mind on the right track.”

Elliott said that throughout the week the team has worked on supporting each other in all three phases of the game. He said fans should expect to see a more potent offense, a stingy defense and more disciplined special teams. 

“[After Porter,] I took away that winning is easy and losing needs to teach us more about our chemistry and leadership on the team,” Elliott said. “I think there needs to be more vocal leaders on both sides of the ball. Overall, the kids have worked hard in practice and are excited to go into this game with a positive attitude and get back on track.”