LANSFORD — Schuylkill Haven was expected to beat Panther Valley handily in the season opening game for both teams. It was even safe to say that many expected the outcome to be decided by halftime, with the mercy rule closing out the second half.
In the end, the Hurricanes pulled away to defeat the Panthers 34-12 in an Anthracite Football League game. But the game was far from being a blowout.
In fact, the Panthers managed to stay within a touchdown of Schuylkill Haven going into the third quarter giving the team thoughts of an upset in the first game for new Panther Valley head coach Matt Davis.
Fortunately for the Hurricanes, running back Will Casella put to rest any thoughts of Panther Valley celebrating a win. His two fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 16 and 60 yards allowed Schuylkill Haven to open up a three-touchdown lead and secure the victory.
Casella rushed for 141 yards on 20 carries and ran for two additional touchdowns of 3 yards in the first quarter and 4 yards in the third.
Schuylkill Haven head coach Mike Farr was pleased with the outcome, but was troubled by the team’s stalling in the second and third quarter and allowing Panther Valley to drive for two touchdowns to stay in the game.
“It’s the first week and that’s how it goes,” Farr said. “We should have realistically been up four touchdowns at halftime. But we just didn’t execute. We had a couple of bad penalties.”
Panther Valley quarterback Ali Capobianco kept his team in the game by throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to Cee Keo with 1:31 remaining in the second quarter to cut Schuylkill Haven’s lead to 13-6 going into halftime.
The Hurricanes had scored on its first two possessions of the game on a 7-yard run by Brett Biever and 3-yard run by Casella, only to have its offense stall for the rest of the half.
Schuylkill Haven opened up some breathing room in the third quarter on Casella’s second TD run of the game to open up a 19-6 lead, only to have Panther Valley answer with a 5-yard touchdown run by Capobianco to cut the lead to 19-12.
“They were playing tough and this is a tough place to play,” Farr said. “We did not have a great night. But we managed to put things together, especially up front.”
Capobianco led Panther Valley’s offense by rushing for 51 yards and completing seven passes for 99 yards. Davis was happy that his team made a game of it after falling behind by two scores early.
“We are going to try to build our program to be like Haven.” Davis said. “Year in and year out, they turn out competitive teams.”
The Hurricanes finished the game with 270 yards rushing on 36 carries. Biever added 68 yards rushing on six carries.
Game Summary
SH (1-0, 1-0) 13 0 6 15 — 34
PV (0-1, 0-1) 0 6 6 0 — 12
SH — Biever 7 run (Kick failed)
SH — Casella 3 run (Trumbo kick)
PV — Keo 29 pass from Capobianco (Kick blocked)
SH — Casella 4 run (Kick failed)
PV — Capobianco 5 run (Kick failed)
SH — Casella 16 run (Casella run)
SH — Casella 60 run (Trumbo kick)
Haven PV
First Downs 18 11
Rushes-Yards 36-270 37-78
Passes 2-5-0 7-11-1
Passing Yards 11 99
Total Yards 281 177
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 3-2
Penalties 5-45 5-37
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Schuylkill Haven — Casella 20-141, Biever 6-68, Browne 3-42, Kershner 1-23, Gehring 2-5, Batz 2-4, Fink 2-(-13). Panther Valley — Capobianco 23-51, Shubeck 8-11, Micholik 2-9, Suveg 4-6, Zver 1-1.
PASSING: Schuylkill Haven — Fink 2-5-0, 15. Panther Valley — Capobianco 7-11-1, 99.
RECEIVING: Schuylkill Haven — Biever 2-11. Panther Valley — Micholik 4-39, Suveg 2-31, Keo 1-29.
INTERCEPTIONS: Schuylkill Haven — Browne.