FRANKTON — The Elwood Panthers picked up their first win of the season with a 40-8 victory over county and Central Indiana Conference rival Frankton at Otis Cress Field Friday night.

Panther senior Nathaniel Jones carried the ball only four times on the night. The first carry for Jones went for no gain. The next three were all scoring runs of 1, 74 and 48 yards.

Elwood quarterback Derek Wells was 5-for-10 passing for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He found Kevin Worsley on a 32-yard strike and then connected with Thomas Abner on a 30-yard scoring play.

The game had an interesting start as Frankton went to kick off the ball, and the Eagles’ kicker whiffed on the ball, giving the Panthers starting field position in Eagles territory.

Elwood was without the services on its normal starting center Korsen Stiner, who missed the game after suffering heart palpations during the day at school.

“He’s a 17-year-old kid and they were talking about maybe using paddles to shock his heart back in rhythm,” said Elwood coach Marty Wells. “He’s going to be out until he’s cleared by a cardiologist.”

So with a new center, the first play of the game was Elwood lining up in shotgun formation and the ball being snapped over the quarterback’s head for a loss of 19 yards. The exact same thing happened on third down of the same series for a loss of 13 yards.

“We were kind of out of our routine; we dressed over at the school and didn’t get here until 20 after six,” said Wells. “Maybe that had something to do with the start of the game.”

The two teams would trade punts until the Eagles managed to move the ball 73 yards on 19 plays. Then on fourth and two from the Elwood seven-yard line, Thomas Abner intercepted a Tyler McKeon pass and returned the ball 79 yards to the Frankton 14-yard line.

Six plays later, Jones took the ball into the end zone on a one-yard dive to give the visitors a 7-0 score.

Turnovers would plague the Eagles in the second quarter.

A fumble on the ensuing possession by Frankton would give the Panthers the ball at the Eagle 32-yard line. The Panthers wasted no time as Wells found Worsley for a 32-yard scoring pass and a 13-0 lead.

Elwood would force Frankton to punt for the third time in the first half and then Jones took another bobbled shotgun snap and turned into a 74-yard scoring run.

Elwood’s Kevin Horseman picked off another Eagle pass to set up Abner’s 30-yard scoring strike from Wells.

Elwood put up 26 points in all in the second quarter for a 26-0 lead at the break.