That sound you heard on Friday night at Jordan High School was the Panthers crashing back down to Earth.  After steam rolling to a 3-0 start, Jordan got a lesson in humility from Santa Monica and dropped its first game of the year, 21-13.

Jordan (3-1) knew Santa Monica (4-0) was going to run the ball a lot, but the Panthers had their worst tackling night of the season.  SAMO took advantage, scoring early after a long drive.

“We just didn’t tackle well tonight,” Jordan coach Scott Meyer said after the game.  “We had them stopped, but we just didn’t wrap up.”

Princeton Fuimaono shined at his outside linebacker position while receiver Tyaries Francis hauled in 40-yard touchdown pass from John Timu before halftime, making the score 7-7 at recess.

SAMO controlled possession for most of the second stanza, and scored again in the middle of the 3rd quarter.  Jordan answered with a long drive of its own, and Taniela Maka took it to the end zone for his fourth touchdown in as many games, making it 14-13 SAMO.

With time running out and down eight, Timu and his offensive unit were driving for the tying score.  But on fourth-and-two in the SAMO red zone, Timu’s pass sailed high, and Jordan didn’t touch the ball again.

“Hopefully we can learn from this,” said Meyer.  “We’re 0-0 now that the Moore League is starting… we need our best week of practice now.”

The Panthers will take on Millikan (2-3, 0-1) next week at home.