ROUND ROCK — The Pflugerville Panthers punched their ticket to the playoffs in the regular season finale as they finished off district play with a 31-3 victory over fellow PISD member Connally High School. The Panthers will enter the playoffs having finished the regular season with a 6-4 record while the Cougars wrap up the 2009 campaign with a disappointing 2-8 record.

Pflugerville’s Julian Ward was the difference maker as his touchdown runs of 2, 1, and 24 yards propelled the Panthers to their 31-point outburst.

Things looked promising for the Cougars as they held their own against the Panthers for the first 24 minutes. The Panthers went into the break holding a slim 10-3 lead thanks to a 2-yard touchdown by Ward and a 27-yard field goal by Sean Ianno that was set up by a Dante Jackson interception. Connally returned the favor when a Brian Washington interception led to a 33-yard field goal by Kevin Del Aguila as time expired to end the first half.

After the break the Panthers put the game away when they went on a 21 -0 run in the third quarter. Ward scored his second and third touchdowns of the night to help extend the Panthers lead to 24-3. Sammy Flowers rounded out the Panthers scoring when he raced into the end zone from 15 yards out with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter.

As for the Cougars offense, aside from their lone scoring drive Connally was unable to sustain drives. Turnovers or penalties were the thorn in Connally’s side as it was those types of miscues that killed or stalled Cougar drives.

The game was a physical one as both teams had a number of players get shaken up throughout the night. For the Panthers this was a major concern as they have been battling the injury bug all season long.

Panther fans held their breath when defensive standout Savon Thomas was shaken up in the second quarter. Coach Herrmann addressed the injury situation after the game.

“We are always concerned about injuries,” he said. “We have been hurt all year and it looks like we got a few more hurt.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow night the Panthers will travel to San Antonio to face off against the winner from District 26-5A, the Reagan Rattlers. Reagan comes into the contest riding a seven-game winning streak and boasting a record of 8-2.

“Reagan has a good football team, they are big upfront and it will be a battle,” Herrmann said.

During the regular season the Rattlers averaged over 25 points a game while allowing 15 and averaged just under 326 total yards per game while giving up 284.5. Offensively the Panthers will keep their eyes on Diego Flores and Trevor Knight who combined to rush 295 times for over 1500 yards during the regular season. Knight also completed 53 percent of his passes.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Comalander Stadium.