There were several that could be assigned blame after Paris’ loss Saturday, but the Coyotes weren’t pointing fingers.

If they were pointed anywhere, everyone was pointing at themselves as Paris were defeated 33-13 by Grandview in Joseph Utterback’s first game as head coach. The Coyotes converted on fourth down 1-of-6 times after being forced to go for it after falling behind 19-0 at halftime.

Senior quarterback Leo Bounds threw for two touchdowns and had two interceptions on 13-for-25 for 182 yards passing, and senior Owen Totten picked up five sacks. Sophomore and reigning Lewis and Clark all-conference running back Gatlin Fountain rushed for 81 yards on 12 carries, and junior Colton Kendrick caught seven passes for 103 yards.

Utterback, who was an assistant coach at Paris for five years prior to this year, said Grandview did a nice job adjusting to Paris’ offensive game plan early after the Coyotes started near midfield or in Eagle territory on every drive in the first half, initially starting at Grandview 46. Paris was held to 106 yards rushing.

“We got pretty excited about the first drive,” Utterback said. “We were trying to run the ball outside. We thought they were weak in the flats. They were able to take that away pretty quickly.”

After failing to convert on fourth down on the first drive, Paris recovered a fumble at the 12 only to give the ball to the Eagles at the 2-yard line, which culminated in a 33-yard touchdown run by Nash Moore.

A Coyote turnover gave the Eagles the ball at the Paris 48, and Cameron Hagen – who had 104 yards on nine carries – gave Grandview a 12-0 lead after the first quarter.

Bounds ran for Paris’ first fourth down conversion only for it to eventually lead to Jacob Walker throwing a 62-yard touchdown pass to Austin Blankenship, who connected on several long passes and a long touchdown.

Utterback said the Coyotes were beaten too frequently on deep passes that factored into the Eagles’ 237-yard day through the air and will look for solutions following this week.

“We got burnt deep a couple times,” Utterback said. “That’s always such a killer when you get burnt deep because – no matter what you have going on whether it’s good or bad as we had a lot of good stuff going on, once you get burnt deep for a touchdown or a long completion – that takes the wind out of your sails.”

The wind wasn’t fully out of Paris’ sails, though, as the Coyotes swarmed Walker in the backfield more in the second half. Totten sacked him to force a Grandview punt to start the third quarter.

Totten was one of three Coyotes who earned spots on the all-conference team last season, with most of the selections being dominated by the trio of Fayette, Marceline and Harrisburg that combined for 31 wins last season. He was recognized as a running back and a linebacker.

On Saturday, Totten was still creating pressure on defense but was trying to allay pressure on offense as a lineman. Utterback said Totten was a “beast running back” last year so it seemed to make sense to add him to the offensive line.

“He was just a monster at running back, but we knew we had to buff our O-line,” Utterback said. “We want to put some leadership there, and he and (junior) Brandon Callison both have stepped up. It doesn’t matter who you have at running back. If you got a good O-line, they’re going to open up holes. If you got a beast running back and no O-line, that’s a problem. Luckily, we got some pretty good running backs too.”

Totten’s fifth sack came in late in the third quarter. Walker had trouble escaping Totten’s grasp, but the Eagles were able to score on a pass to Blankenship for a 26-9 lead.

Utterback said, if Totten keeps up his pace, he could shatter the school record of 16 sacks in a season. At the very least, the senior has a good shot at making history while being a consistent force on defense.

“His biggest impact comes on his passion for football.” Utterback said. “That kid works his tail off all summer and all season. That kid is a beast, and he’s strong as an ox. He leads his teammates in the right way.”

Totten clearly hadn’t given up in the second half, and the rest of the Coyotes didn’t appear to either as Bounds found junior Walter Rucker up the middle before he ran around the outside for a 31-yard touchdown, making it 19-7 Grandview with about four minutes left in the third quarter.

Paris had the ball with only 20 seconds left when down 26-9 but made those seconds count as Bounds completed a pass to Kendrick in the flat for a 48-yard touchdown he made certain after diving in the endzone.

The Coyotes had the ball again with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter after a Grandview fumble but couldn’t hit passes downfield like the Eagles could. Walker secured the victory with a 26-yard run for his third touchdown of the game and second on the ground.

Regardless, Utterback said Paris has the capability to be a tough team that keeps battling as it did on Saturday. While it may be disappointing also that he didn’t win his first game as head coach, Utterback knows his mentors, including former head coach and current athletic director Gary Crusha, didn’t win their first games either. He just has to take accountability for his mistakes like his players were doing after the game.

“Six or seven of our kids were like, ‘Hey, I did this wrong’ or ‘I could have done this better.’ I didn’t hear anyone say, ‘You should have done this better,’” Utterback said. “That comes down to me too. I told them a lot of this is on me. Our kids took accountability, and that means they are ready to get better from this.”

Paris will try to get Utterback his first head coaching win and its first win of 2022 when it travels to Mexico for a 7 p.m. Friday game against Missouri Military Academy (0-1), who lost 49-6 at Russellville in Week 1.

Softball

Paris begins season with decisive 17-1 win vs Wellsville, 2-1 heartbreaker at Louisiana

Paris softball had a strong start to its 2022 season before losing the first of four games in as many days.

On Friday at home, the Lady Coyotes defeated Wellsville-Middletown 17-1 in a balanced offensive attack that saw 13 out of its 15 girls drive in a run. Paris began the season in the win column before it started a four-game stretch Monday at Louisiana, which the Lady Coyotes lost 2-1 in 10 innings despite of the 9⅔ innings from sophomore pitcher Kennedy Ashenfelter

“Overall, we played solid and I was very happy to get the first win,” head coach Collin Huffman said. “This week will be a real test having to play four in a row, with the final game this week against a district opponent.”

Ashenfelter struck out 11 in four innings for Paris while allowing two hits, one walk and no earned runs. She also drove in two runs in her 1-for-2 day at the plate that included a triple.

Freshman Knightlee Mitten led the offense with her four RBI while going 2-for-3 with a double, senior Rachel Shoemyer added two RBI and two stolen bases while going 2-for-2 and freshman Sophia Crusha had an RBI and a triple.

On Monday, Ashenfelter struck out 12 and allowed two walks and one earned run against Louisiana while Mitten drove in Paris’ only run. Freshman Mairyn Kinnaman went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, and Reese Sutton finished 3-for-4 with a walk.

“The girls played really well and we had some chances to score but just couldn't quite get it down,” Huffman said. “Credit to Louisiana for playing a good defensive game and to their young pitcher for keeping us off balance. I’m very proud of the effort, just hated we couldn't get the win.”

Paris played Mark Twain on Tuesday, will host South Shelby at 5 p.m. today and goes on the road against its first Class 1 District 8 opponent and reigning district champion Northeast (Cairo) at 5 p.m. Thursday.