Panthers Lose.

Marian Catholic Colts 28
Panther Valley Panthers 7

Panther Valley
Panthers
Vs
Shenandoah Valley
Blue Devils

Friday, October 12, 2012
7:00 P.M.

Kickoff return leads Marian

Marian's Stan Dakosty had a feeling this would be the week for a big kickoff return.

In fact, he even told his team prior to Friday's game against Panther Valley.

Turns out the longtime mentor knows what he's talking about.

John Julian took the opening kick and returned it 89 yards for a touchdown and instant momentum. The Colts carried that momentum the rest of the way and posted a 28-7 Anthracite League victory.

"We thought yesterday that we had a chance to take it all the way on the kickoff return," said Dakosty. "We made some changes up front. We have a real nice return this year. We felt very confident and I told our kids I believe we could return the opening kickoff and we did.

"Last week we had a punt blocked so we put even more emphasis on (special teams) this week ... John Julian is a great player and he made some plays for us tonight."

Julian took the deep kick and cut toward his sideline. With the benefit of a solid wall, the senior outraced the Panthers to the end zone, giving his team an early 6-0 advantage.

"I really felt like tonight we were going to do it," said Julian. "I saw the hole and I have to give credit to the return team. That really set the game up nice for us. Once we got that momentum, we just kept going."

Julian and the offense fed off that emotion. After the Colts' defense forced a punt, the visitors put together probably their best drive of the night.

Marian (5-1) moved 73 yards on seven plays to push the margin to 14-0 midway through the opening quarter. Quarterback Corey Quick ran for a 29-yard gain and also completed a pair of passes to Julian, the final one for a 15-yard score.

"We had some adrenaline still going from the kickoff," said Julian. "Going up 14-0 was really big. It was huge."

It was especially huge with the way the Colts' defense has been playing.

Having allowed an average of just 10 points and 139 yards per contest, Marian had to feel confident with the early cushion.

"Our defense has been outstanding, pure and simple," said Dakosty. "They've been outstanding since Day One ... They don't give an inch.

"We changed our philosophy this year. We went away from our base defense. We decided this summer that we were going to get athletes on the field. We were going to get people that could run balls down and make plays. We're small but quick on defense."

That defense was given a greater margin of error in the second half when the offense scored again. An incomplete pass by Panther Valley on a fake punt gave the Colts a short field to work with and they made the most of it.

Keeping the ball mostly on the ground, Dakosty's club moved 35 yards in eight plays. Anthony Agosti went the final two for a 21-0 lead.

"We were trying to make something work (on the fake punt)," said PV head coach Lon Hazlet, whose team dropped to 3-3. "Our special teams were a real mess and that's something we're going to have to improve going forward.

"We climbed back in a little bit, and then Richie (Smith) went down. That certainly took the wind out of our sail."

After that score, Hazlet's club finally got on the board. Smith broke through the line and raced 39 yards to the end zone to close the gap to 21-7.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, Marian came right back. The Colts used just four plays and a little over a minute to regain their 21-point spread. Dylan Quirk bulled his way in from two yards for the score.

"I was nervous because we should have put them away in the first half," said Dakosty. "We had a lot of missed opportunities. I thought when they scored and we responded and took the ball right down the field, I thought that was it. That was a great job there."

"They're well-coached and they have good kids," said Hazlet, who lost Smith to a foot injury in the final quarter. "They run to the ball on defense and they're just fundamentally sound. We worked a ton on special teams the past couple of weeks and it took us just 16 seconds for them to be up. That was very disappointing."

 

Panthers blasted by Haven

Although the weather was clear and calm at Panther Valley Stadium last night, there was a storm brewing on the field. The Hurricanes of Schuylkill Haven, coming off their stopping North Schuylkill's 33-game regular season winning streak last week, met "thunder and lightning," Panther Valley's vaunted running duo of Richie Smith and Kyle Ferryman.

Weathermen will say that hurricanes pack extremely strong forces and that's what it must have appeared to Panther Valley as Schuylkill Haven routed the Panthers 37-0. In a penalty-marred first half, Haven scored first when sophomore Ryan Fink returned a punt for a 55-yard touchdown. The Canes never looked back.

"There's a lot of pressure to succeed when you play football at Haven," said Coach Mike Farr. "Our staff stresses to our players to have fun and I think they played that way tonight."

There was no fun on the PV side as the Cane defense continued to stuff the Panther offense, holding them to no serious scoring threats in the first half. Haven then jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a nine play, 54 yard drive capped off by William Casella's 17 yard run.

Casella, also a sophomore, gained 125 yards on the night. He gave credit to his coaches' preparation.

"We had a great scouting report on PV and it definitely helped us on both sides of the ball," he said.

After a Panther punt, the Hurricanes drove 76 yards in nine plays and scored on an eight-yard Casella run to take a 21-0 lead with 46 seconds to go in the half.

"I wish I knew why we could not execute," said Panther Valley Coach Lon Hazlet. "They gained the momentum after the punt return

"Give them all the credit. They're strong kids who run downhill. They wore us down."

The second half began no better than the first for the Panthers. An over-the-head snap on a punt resulted in a safety for Schuylkill Haven and the Hurricanes offense then got the ball. Four plays and 59 yards later, John Heffner scampered eight yards into the end zone to give the Haven a commanding lead.

"We like to think of each game as a milestone and this puts us at 3-2," said Farr.

When asked if defeating North Schuylkill last week and ending their long streak gave them extra confidence tonight, Farr replied, "Our kids weren't really aware of their streak. Tonight it was about holding everyone accountable and I think the field conditions (wet and slippery) were better for our type of offense compared to their offense."

Panther Valley managed some late third quarter offense and drove to the Haven 21 yard line before a fourth down screen pass and a great one-handed catch by Kyle Ferryman fell just short of a first down.

The Canes then put a stamp on the final score by marching 89 yards in 14 plays to score on a Fink 13 yard run.

This last touchdown completed a highly successful game for Fink who never comes off the field and even plays on all the special teams.

"We have great heart and determination, " said Fink. "And tonight our O-line dominated during our long touchdown drives."

All that Panther Coach Hazlet could say was, "The buck stops here," (pointing at himself.)

Panthers fall

Published on Times News Online ( http://www.tnonline.com )
By BRAD HURLEY bhurley@tnonline.com

Panther Valley head coach Lon Hazlet said earlier this week that in order to stay in the game with Schuylkill Valley they had to limit their big plays.

Schuylkill Valley was coming into their contest against Panther Valley with 15 out of 22 starters returning from last year's AA District 3 playoff squad and over 3,500 yards of total offense between their quarterback and two running backs.

So it's safe to say that coach Hazlet's game plan was the right one.

Unfortunately, for Panther Valley that game plan didn't exactly work out the way they wanted. Schuylkill Valley racked up 400 yards on the ground, averaging almost 10 yards a carry, en route to a 54-28 victory on Friday night at Panther Stadium.

"That's a real good football team we lost to tonight and they're everything they're built to be,"said Hazlet. "They have two extremely talented running backs and we had plans to stop them and we didn't. Those backs ran with power all night and it looks like they both could squat 400 pounds with the way they drive their legs. Schuylkill Valley is a good program and you have to credit them for the way they came out and played tonight."

The Schuylkill Valley running attack didn't waste anytime getting into the end zone. Ryan Matthews got Schuylkill Valley on the board first with an 11-yard dash up the middle. Panther Valley actually had the lead for a brief time in the ball game when on their following possession PV quarterback Matthew Levitt hit Devon Dillard on a 35-yard strike to give the Panthers a 7-6 advantage. Dillard mad ea nice play going up and over a Schuylkill Valley defender to give Panther Valley the lead.

The PV lead was short lived however, as Schuylkill Valley quarterback Kyle Beissel threw a bomb of his own to 6-3 215 pound target Adam Drumgoole for a 68-yard touchdown. Then running back Eryk Cerankowski would get in on the fun for SV with a 42-yard scamper up the sidelines for a score. Schuylkill Valley then forced Panther Valley into a game of catch up when a Levitt pass from his own seven yard line was tipped by Tanner Mish and was then intercepted by Nick Scheidt, who took the ball into the end zone.

It was evident from the onset that Panther Valley didn't have an answer for the Schuylkill Valley rushers. Cerankowski tallied 139 yards and two scores, Scheidt had 103 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Matthews collected 92 yards and a score.

"We came ready to play tonight," said Schuylkill Valley coach Jeff Chillot. "This is not the same team we faced last year and we knew that coming in. We knew they were going to play physical, but our guys just did a great job of executing tonight. We were able to make some big plays and we did a good job of responding to their early score. We got them in a position where we had them chasing us a bit and then we just controlled the tempo of the game from then on."

The Panthers showed glimpses of big play ability on the night with some long passing plays, which is something positive Hazlet and his staff can take away from a tough football game against an even tougher opponent.

"The kids played hard and our goal is to get better everyday," said Hazlet. "We had hoped to play better tonight, but we didn't, so we're going to get back to work and get better."