by Geoff Fox
This Friday was supposed to be the final game of the Hancock Panthers as they took on the rival Clear Spring Blazers at Paul Imphong Field, but that plan has been sidelined.
The Panther’s last game was a 20-8 loss at home against the Stonewall Jackson Generals on Friday, October 10.
After discussing ongoing injuries and upcoming games with the athletic director and principal several times last week, Hancock Coach Greg Cartrette said after hearing from doctors, they made the decision to cancel the season due to not enough healthy players.
“At that point, we were looking at only having 10 players,” Cartrette said.
Coach Cartrette said by NFHS 2025 rulebook, rule one, section one, article three, a team shall begin a game with 11 players, but if there are no substitute for injured or disqualified players, the team could continue with fewer than 11 players.
“In the best case scenario, we were sitting at 10,” he said.
Cartrette said it was a hard decision and not taken lightly. Every avenue was exhausted that he and school officials could take from the perspective of getting “this person back by next week” and the answers were no.
“It was hard on all three of us,” Cartrette said about the decision.
When the coaching staff and team were told about the decision, Cartrette said there was disappointment.
He said he and the coaching staff were disappointed and the players were “absolutely” disappointed.
“The reality is, is that we all wanted to play, but under the circumstances that we were in, we just could not play,” Cartrette said. “We just could not continue.”
With his first season as Hancock’s head coach, Cartrette is still able to see what he accomplished.
One of the things he stressed with the team was they weren’t going to look at the scoreboard. Instead, they would go out and play, leaving everything on the field.
Cartrette became the team’s mantra and “The Hancock Way” of playing football.
The coach described “The Hancock Way” as the team showing up to play the game, putting forth every effort on the field, forgetting about the scoreboard, and giving everything they have, playing their heart out until the buzzer goes off at the end of the game.
“That’s what those players did this year. They never quit. They never gave up,” Cartrette said.
There have been people tell him and ask him about it being hard to do with only 14 players, keeping them excited during the game.
“No, we started from the beginning of the year that this is how we were going to play football,” he said.
He said the players came to practice every day, no matter how many players there were at practice or how many injuries and just played their hearts out.
“Now we have the Hancock Way that we’re going to play football moving forward and that — I’m so proud of the team for that,” he said.
Cartrette also noted this year has made him a better coach.
Going into a game, the coaches have to plan their schemes and how the team will defend against their opponent and how the offense will be run against the opponent.
“When you start with 16 players and then you go to 15 and then you go to 14, throughout the year, I had to do stuff that I have never done as a coach,” Cartrette said.
In four of the Panthers’ six games, they started with 11 players, there were times during the course of those games, there were only 10 players on the field.
Cartrette said they’d go a whole possession or a whole quarter with just 10 players.
He said he had to scheme on how to draw up plays with only 10 players and how to do that.
The team was also short on linemen and, at the most, the team had six at any given time and you have to have five on an offensive line.
Cartrette said there were times he’d be carrying extra linemen jerseys in case a receiver or tight end had to make the move to the line if a linemen went down.
“From a standpoint, that made me a better coach because I had never done that before. I never had to do that,” Cartrette said.
He added it made him a better coach on how to manage and strategize in a game where most coaches have never done something like that.
The 2026 season will be here before you know it and Cartrette said the heart of the team is a big positive moving toward next year.
Three key players will be graduating.
With the Hancock Way started this year, it is something the team will build on next year.
“If you’ve got a football team that’s going to buy in and leave everything on the football field every game and be there and excited every practice, eventually it’s going to turn around for us,” Coach Cartrette said.
But if the heart isn’t there, the team won’t be successful, he added.
Cartrette said there’s still a long way to go before next season and he sees the numbers for next year and who comes out, but he’s already looking at adding to the Panthers’ offense to capitalize on the players he has returning and utilizing their skill set.
Coming into his first year at Hancock, Cartrette said he didn’t know what he had, but going into 2026, he knows what he has as far as talent and skill set each one has and how he can use them.
“I’ve already started working on an offense to really capitalize on that,” Cartrette said.
He’s not doing away from the current offense, he’s just adding to it to utilize the skills of the players he has.
Starting in January or February, he’s going to implement the offseason weight program where the team will be in the weight room at least twice a week. They’ll bring that Hancock Way mentality to the weight room to prepare the team and get them stronger.
“We’ve got some guys that can play some football, but we got to get stronger,” Cartrette said. “That’s going to be a huge part of our football team is being in the weight room and getting stronger.”
That allows the Panthers to be able to compete with the teams they’ll be playing next year.
Cartrette said he is planning to address everybody with the student body about playing next year and what the team is building toward.
Cartrette said for the community, the biggest thing is just supporting the team, be it the fundraisers or the media guide.
He said the money from the fundraisers and media guide all helps pay for the equipment and things the team needs to be successful.
Cartrette said he wanted to thank the boosters, parents, community, and especially the players for the support he had this year and buy in from the players this season.
“Thank you to all that were involved for making my first year. While it didn’t end where I wanted to end, I’m looking at this as a very positive year that we can build on,” Cartrette said.
Cartrette added is his home is in Hancock, his family bought a home here, and his son is in first grade here.
“I’m not leaving,” he said. “It’s not like I live in Boonsboro, Hagerstown, or one of the areas, I live here,” Cartrette said.
He said he’s dedicated to the program and ready to build a strong and long-term football program.
He did address the possible students who might be contemplating coming out for the team.
“We might be the smallest public school in Maryland, but that doesn’t mean we have to have a small team number-wise,” he said.
If anyone wants to go out for the team, Cartrette said he’d teach them how to play football.
He noted there were four freshman players this year who were thrown into the fire and each one grew “leaps and bounds” over the six games.
“Seeing them at the beginning when they didn’t even know how to put their pads on right to where they are now of understanding defense, understanding coverages, understanding stuff, it blows me away,” Cartrette said.
The Panthers open the 2026 football season at home against the Berkeley Springs Indians on September 4.
