The Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers chalked up another win Nov. 15 after eliminating the GW Graham Grizzlies from the playoffs in B.C. high school football.

It was a tale-of-two-halfs as the Panthers were outscored 14-7 in the first two quarters, but put in an impressive second-half effort, scoring 36 unanswered points to win the game 43-14.

After his second straight playoff win, rookie head coach Michael Carter said his defence struggled to shut down the Grizzlies offence in the first half.

鈥淚t鈥檚 tough when your defence is on the field for 13, 14, 15 plays in a row,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淎nd then our offence, it鈥檚 hard when you have three-and-out, three-and-out.鈥�

The Panthers scored on their first drive of the game after an interception gifted them a short field. Three plays later, QB Chase Thurston hurled a 10-yard touchdown pass to Logan Wager to give the squad an early 7-0 lead.

The rest of the first half was all GW Graham as the Chilliwack school threw the ball at will into the Tweedsmuir secondary. Short passes of 4-7 yards kept the drives going down the field and gave the Grizzlies 14 points in the first half.

Carter said he welcomed the half-time whistle so his players could recharge and the coaching staff could make some adjustments heading into the second half.

鈥淭hey had a good game plan and schemed out what we do on defence very well and their players were making plays,鈥� Carter explained. 鈥淲e went a little more multiple [in the second half] with what we were doing鈥攄ifferent coverages, different fronts鈥攂ut we really just needed to make plays when they were there and do our jobs. We had a few interceptions and we were able to get going after their quarterback a little bit.鈥�

He said they made some adjustments with their pass rush and that seemed to work well.

The Panther offence took over in the third and fourth quarters, scoring five touchdowns. Peyton Mansfield scored two rushing touchdowns in the second half and Jerin Harinen ran in one. Thurston connected with Jack Roberts for two passing TDs (26 yards and 20 yards) to round out the second-half scoring.

Carter said Mansfield was 鈥渇antastic鈥� and worked 鈥渟uper hard鈥� during the game, just as he does in practice and in preparation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a surprise to me that come game-time, he鈥檚 all over the field,鈥� he added. 鈥淥ffense-defense 鈥� he鈥檚 done a really good job the last three-four games.鈥�

Key Stats

Thurston was 15/20 for 167 yards passing with 3 TDs and 1 Int.; Mansfield had 13 rushes for 120 yards and 2 TDs; Roberts had 7 catches for 102 yards and 2 TDs, with 9 tackles on defence. Both Finn Meberg and Tyler Jones had 7 tackles each on defence.

With the win, the Panthers move into the semifinals and face Vancouver College at B.C. Place Nov. 23. College is coming off a 41-7 quarter-final win over Kelowna. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.