The football series between the West Stanly Colts and Piedmont Panthers dates back to West Stanly’s opening in the early 1960s.

West and Piedmont had not played against each other since 2016, and the Colts, despite leading the all-time series 31-22, had lost nine straight games to the Panthers dating back to 2009. West’s last win over Piedmont came in 2008, 22-7.

The Colts ended the nine-game losing streak to the Panthers and earned the team’s first Rocky River Conference win since the ‘21 season with a 25-12 win Friday night.

Rene Salazar had a huge game for West (4-2, 1-0 RRC) with 184 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown.

West QB Jett Thomas was 8-for-15 for 106 yards through the air with TD passes to Gavyn Efird and Austin Eudy.

“I thought we played fairly well,” West head coach Brett Morton said.

The head coach was back on the sidelines for the second straight week after missing two weeks with health concerns.

“Defensively, we stopped the run well and created several turnovers. Offensively, we capitalized well and got out to a nice lead.”

West has two road RRC games in the next two weeks, starting this Friday at Forest Hills (5-1, 0-1). The Yellow Jackets’ game Friday night at Monroe was stopped in the third quarter, according to the Charlotte Observer, because of fights in the stands. At the time, Monroe was leading 28-0.