DeWitt Panther Football

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Last Update: 5-06-2019

DeWitt, MI (5-6-2019): Hard work and perseverance. Continually strive for your goal and dream in life.

Ryan Anderson is the epitome of the work and perseverance. Always with his goal in sight, of becoming a professional football player. This past weekend, Ryan signed a three year contract with the NFL New York Giants.

"Absolutely Thrilled!" said Panther Coach Rob Zimmerman of Anderson's contract signing. The two have kept in close contact since his days with the Panthers. The three time All-American collegiate punter will report on Sunday and be in camp until mid-June. After that a short break and then back for training camp. After that he has his sights on making the 53 man roster for the 2019 season.

Enjoy Brian Calloway's article on Ryan.

Follow Ryan on his Twitter account.

DeWitt, MI (4-27-2019): The Lansing area will have a rivalry renewed between two of the top teams in the mid-Michigan area. Jon Navaro's Division 5 powerhouse Portland and Rob Zimmerman's Division 3 power DeWitt will play week two for the 2019 season in Portland. DeWitt was to play the second year of a two year contract with Walled Lake Northern (4-5). However a switch in the Knights schedule required a league game with Waterford Kettering (1-8) for week two leaving DeWitt with an empty week. Portland also had an opening in week two so the game was agreed upon.

DeWitt and Portland last played from 2009 through 2014. DeWitt won four of the six games with each team registering a blow out win and each team having a come from behind win and two other close games. Portland will be coming off an appearance in the Division 5 finals losing to Hudsonville Unity Christian while DeWitt made it to the semi-finals last season before losing to Detroit King. The Raiders have only missed the playoffs once since 2002 and DeWitt once since 1999.

Should be a great game and one of the tops in the Lansing area.

Battle Creek, MI (03-01-2019): The Michigan High School Football Coaches Association has named DeWitt's Tyler Warren to the 2019 MHSFCA All Star game West Roster. The game will be played this summer. A time and date will be announced.

The hard running speedster Warren played H-back and defensive corner back for the 12-1 Panthers. His versatility was key to the Panther offense. He rushed for 565 yards on 56 carries and twelve touchdowns for his career. He also caught 34 passes for 443 yards and three touchdowns. The dangerous Warren returned 12 kickoffs for 362 yards for a gaudy 30.2 average including a 79 yard kickoff return to start the regional final game against Farmington. Defensively he registered 17 solo tackles.

Besides being named to the All-Star game, Warren received Associated Press Honorable Mention as a specialist (all purpose player), Detroit Free Press Honorable Mention receiver, Lansing State Journal Class A All-Area First Team and First Team CAAC Blue All-Conference.

Congratulations to Tyler from DeWittFootball.org.

DeWitt, MI (3-01-2019): Ok. So. The DeWitt Panthers have won their thirteenth consecutive conference championship after moving into the Capital Area Activities Conference large school Blue Division last year . The 2018 team won the district and regional championship and lost to eventual Division 3 State Champion Detroit King. DeWitt graduated 25 seniors and a lot of starters including the backfield, offensive line and much of the defense.

Panther Coach Rob Zimmerman will start his 21st season with DeWitt in what looks to be a rebuilding year. What happens this year? Who will the Panthers play?

This is the Panther 2019 schedule.

Thursday August 29: After DeWitt split the home and home season openers with Grand Rapids Christian the Panthers will travel to Traverse City to play the Central Trojans for the season opener. Traverse City Central (enrollment 1,400) from the Big North conference was 7-3 last season and finished runner up in the conference to Traverse City West. Trojan's Coach is Eric Schugars will be in his fifth year as the Trojans head coach and has been with the program for 18 years. On Schugar's staff is former MSU linebacker Max Bullough.

Friday September 6. At Portland: A CAAC crossover game between D5 power Portland (enrollment 580) and the Panthers. These two teams last played in 2014. Since 2015, Portland is 43-5 with four league CAAC White titles and DeWitt 41-7 with four league titles, three in the CAAC Red and one CAAC Blue. Each team has played in 12 post season contests during that time.

*Friday, September 13, At Okemos (enrollment 1,370): The Panthers start the CAAC Blue conference with the Chiefs. These two nearby schools last played a non-conference game in 2006 before last year. The two schools have played 15 times mostly in the old Capital Circuit League in the 70s and 80s. Last season the Chiefs finished third in the CAAC Blue division behind DeWitt and East Lansing but made the playoffs and played in the district final.

*Friday, September 20, At Holt (enrollment 1,700): The first ever meeting on the football field between the Panthers and Rams was won by DeWitt at DeWitt last season. Holt is historically a power in Lansing's large school division battling with Grand Ledge and East Lansing for the top spot. This will be the fourth consecutive away game to start the season.

*Friday, September 27, Home vs East Lansing (enrollment 1,110): These two schools have played some fantastic football games over the last dozen years in the playoffs. The 2007 game featuring Panther QB Dan VanDruemel vs Trojan running back Isaac Harper, the 2008 drubbing of the Panthers, the 2010 come from behind win for DeWitt at EL with Caleb Higbie's late TD run down the western sideline. Last season DeWitt held the upper hand at EL during the regular season but Trojan Coach Bill Feracco had his team ready and nearly upset the Panthers in the playoffs, with DeWitt winning 9-7 in a mudder. Those two games were the only losses for East Lansing last season.

*Friday, October 4, At Lansing Everett (enrollment 1,421): These two schools split non-conference games in 2011 and 2012 and last season DeWitt defeated the Vikings.

*Friday, October 11, Home vs Grand Ledge (enrollment 1,688 ): Wow, two great games these two teams have played the first two years. The Comets won the first meeting 28-21 three years ago and DeWitt squeaked out a 14-7 win two years ago at DeWitt. The Comets have owned the CAAC Blue for the last three years without losing a conference game before last season. A down year for the Comets last season and will play this year with a new head coach as Matt Bird retired. A good guy.

Friday, October 18, Home vs St. Joseph (enrollment 1,010): The Bears are from the Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference and in the same conference with Portage Northern. The Bears have made the Division 3 playoffs nine of the last eleven years including the last four consecutive. DeWitt made the drive to Bear Country last season and came away with a win on a cold rainy night. (Seems like a lot of the nights were rainy last year.)

*Friday, October 25, Home vs Lansing Waverly (enrollment 1,136): The Warriors scored the second most points against the Panthers last season and the most during the regular season.

*Notes a CAAC Blue conference game.