Editor’s note: “What Did We Learn” is a new feature that will take a look at the lessons we can pull from each Friday’s football game. The stories will appear on Mondays throughout the football season.

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Losing a game is never something you want to expect, but some losses are a little less surprising than others. And looking back with the benefit of hindsight, maybe Friday’s loss to Springfield shouldn’t be too shocking.

Now that we know what to look for, there were many alarm bells going off. Maybe we were blinded by the success of the 2024 season, the talent coming back to this year’s team and the preseason hype being delivered from folks outside of the program and city.

But let’s be honest — for as much talent as the Panthers had returning, there were twice as many unknowns. A lot of players were not only seeing their first extended, meaningful minutes on a Friday night in their high school careers, but they were being relied upon to start and play both ways.

That’s a lot to ask. It’s a vast jump from playing on Saturday mornings in junior varsity games to the literal bright lights of Friday nights. Try as they might, there is little coaches can do to prepare the players for what that feels like. They just have to experience it.

And those questions and unknowns were exacerbated by the opponent on the other sideline. Springfield isn’t a rival like Perrysburg, but it’s close. There is a genuine dislike between programs in both athletic departments. The Blue Devils had this game circled on their calendar and were working toward it all offseason.

Springfield was the first team to fall in what has been the renaissance of the Maumee program under coach Evan Karchner. They had to live the whole 2023 season with that loss hanging over them. Then, in 2024, the Panthers hung a running clock on their home field in a 41-8 win. That had to sting.

It is a program that’s endured six straight losing seasons. With a new, young coach bringing new energy, the Blue Devils saw a win in Week 1 as a symbolic cleansing of the past. They weren’t just motivated. To paraphrase Karchner, Springfield needed that win.

Combine that with an untested Maumee team, and doesn’t the loss make a little more sense?

So, what did we learn?

This Maumee team isn’t 2024. This is a new batch of Panthers, and they’re going to have to find their identity. Cody Wulf, Carson Graetz and Pierce Simpson aren’t walking through that door.

But Maumee has Ben Kubicz, Ryan Patterson, Jackson Schneider, Cohen Jones, Eli Dodson, Braidon Linn, Will Kubicz … and more. Newer faces such as Garrett Anderson, Tyler Cannon and Owen Tolbert also stepped up Friday night and met the moment.

These Panthers might not be a running-clock sort of team. They might need to battle and scratch out wins. Maybe they’ll lean more on the defense than the offense. Maybe someone different steps up each week rather than having a steady, proven field leader like Wulf or Graetz. Maybe this team won’t live up to its potential, or maybe we’ll look back in late October on this loss and be shocked that a 9-1 team could lose so badly.

If you’re keeping track, that’s seven “maybes” in this story. With so many new faces, that shouldn’t be surprising.

We learned that patience may be required with these Panthers. And patience will pay off. There is too much talent on this roster for it not to.

Most of the goals remain in play: a Northern Buckeye Conference title, a home playoff game and a deep postseason run.

Let’s be more realistic. Let’s be patient. Let’s trust Karchner, his staff and the leaders of the team to figure it out. They’ve given us no reason not to believe in them.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com