Editor’s Note: Delayed post. This story is being published later than expected. The successive game stories will be published the week of Oct. 7, in advance of the Little Panthers’ final regular season games at home (Dimmick Park, Hellertown) against Palisades on Saturday, Oct. 13. We apologize to the players, fans, boosters, coaches and community for any inconvenience the delay in publishing this content may have caused.
The SVYSA’s Week 3 slate of games were played by the Panther teams on a very chilly and rainy morning in Palmerton against the host team, the Blue Bombers. The unseasonably inclement weather contributed to some ball-handling issues for both teams, and forced me to put away the camera, so unfortunately there are no pictures from this week’s games.
Rookie Flags
The Rookie Flag Division received a bye week and did not play Sept. 9.
Competitive Flags
The Panthers took their first loss of this (and last season) by a final score of 27-19. Despite some standout efforts by all the players on offense and defense they came up just short. Taylor Rohn had close to 250 rushing yards along with two touchdowns, and Xander Farkas scored his second touchdown in as many weeks, plus there was solid defensive play by Ricky Favere with three flag pulls (two for loss), Zachary Henn and Taylor Rohn, who had two stops each. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome the score gifted to the Bombers on a questionable free play after the first half had seemingly expired. Coach Greg urged them to take it as a tough game played in bad weather and put it behind them as they get ready to face Bangor at Dimmick Park.
100 Pound Division
The Panthers came out on top of this contest by a final score of 18-6. The defense was strong again, allowing only one score by the Bombers. Noah Hubert had quite a game, notching a sack, several tackles and a game-sealing fumble recovery while contributing a rushing score and several pass completions to Mason Kares. Braden Rohn posted two scores and that was enough for the Panthers to win the game and improve to 3-0 on the season.
120 Pound Division
This contest was another dominant 33-0 win for the 120-pound Panthers, who continue to impress with their stifling defense (this was their third consecutive shut-out) and power running. Constantine Donahue (2), Jack Robertson, Landon Beckowski and Jackson Albert all scored rushing touchdowns for the Panthers. The defense made several tackles for loss by Braden Pfanders. A sack by Ryan Keeney and a few splash plays like a fumble recovery by Shane Kerosetz and a blocked punt by Landon Beckowski were the other highlights of another strong outing for them. Coach Erik Schneider said after the game that “the entire team played hard. Everybody got to play and they all did great!” With this win they move to 3-0 and have yet to allow another team to score this season.
