Coming into last Friday’s game, Baldwin- Woodville was 3-1 with their only loss coming to Saint Croix Central in week two. The Ellsworth Panthers (5-0) were ready to get down to business.

Junior running back Max Grand put the first points on the board with a 66-yard touchdown run with 8:41 on the clock in the first quarter. The Blackhawks couldn’t get anything going before the Panthers got the ball back and Grand found the endzone for a second time. Just three minutes after his first score, he ran another touchdown from 41-yards out and ran in the two-point conversion to take a 14-0 lead with 5:22 left in the first quarter.

Quarterback Mason Anderson found receiver Jack Janke for a 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter before he found Ashten Quade for the two-point conversion to take a 22-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

The Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks had no answer.

The Panthers got the ball back and Grand found the endzone for a third time, this one from 24-yards out. Anderson kept the ball and ran it in himself to go ahead 30-0 just over two minutes after their previous touchdown. It wasn’t long before an Anderson pass found its way to the endzone once more. Quade scored from 45-yards on his second catch of the night. Chase Snyder’s extra point kick brought the lead to 37-0 with nearly six minutes left to play in the second quarter.

The Panthers held a dominant lead, but Grand wasn’t yet finished. He found another hole behind his hard-working offensive line and punched in a two-yard touchdown for his fourth score of the night to finish with 159 yards on just 10 carries. Quade chipped in another 27 yards on five carries and sophomore Bo Hines ran it four times for 22 yards.

Anderson finished with 114 yards through the air in another efficient Friday night under the lights.

The Blackhawks ran the ball 25 times against the tough Panther defense, only gaining 49 yards on the night. On 15 passes thrown at the defense, just seven were caught for 26 yards.

Ellsworth is already hitting all cylinders on both sides of the ball. After just five games in this young season, senior quarterback Mason Anderson is leading this talented young team to the top of the Middle Border Conference.

The Panthers have thrown for 1,003 yards and rushed for 1,142, scoring 12 touchdowns by air and 14 by ground. They travel to Somerset this Friday to take on the 3-1 Spartans, who’s only loss came to Baldwin-Woodville two weeks ago.

According to the wissports.net coach’s poll, the Panthers are the sixth ranked team in Division four and have no plans to go anywhere but up.