Panthers Suffer Loss To Trojans

by Ed Weaver - September 28, 2020

For the first 12 minutes of play things were all going North Penn-Mansfield’s way as they hosted the Troy Trojans at Island Park on Friday, September 25.

Troy (1-1, 1-1 NTL Large School Division) rallied from a early 14-point deficit to beat the Panthers (1-0, 1-0 NTL Large School Division), 34-21, to hand the Panthers their first loss of the season.

After the game’s opening play from scrimmage, an 80-yard run by the Trojans’ Caleb Binford was called back on a hold, the Panther defense held Troy on a 4th-and-1 from their own 29-yard line. From their the Panthers put together a drive, highlighted by a big pass down the Troy sidelines to Noah Spencer, then a short run by Bryan Bogaczyk to take an early 7-0 lead with 8:21 left to play.

The Panthers’ defense would force another 3-and-out on Troy’s next drive, and again put more points on the board. Starting at the 50 they went to the air as Colton Litzelman hit consecutive passes to Koleton Roupp down into Troy territory before connecting with a streaking Kohen Lehman from 31-yards out to make it 14-0.

The next drive, however, is when the Trojan offense kicked into gear. Doing what they do best, running the ball, Troy mounted a six-play drive, capped off by Bindford from 49 yards out. Binford’s extra point attempt was blocked as the Panthers led 14-5 with 13.5 seconds in the first.

Both teams traded drives for the majority of the second quarter until Troy struck paydirt again late. Again Troy put together a time consuming, nine-play drive, that ended on a two-yard plunge into the end zone by Damien Landon. Troy went for the two-point conversion, but was denied, and trailed 14-12.

As the second half started the Trojans started out with the ball and chewed up half the clock to put six more points on the scoreboard on a 31-yard run by Binford. Troy’s two-point conversion was successful this time around, and they took a 20-14 lead.

After failing to recover an onsides kick the Panther defense forced Troy to turn the ball over on downs at the North Penn 24-yard line. The Panthers then went back to the air, converting pass after pass, and worked their way down inside the red zone. North Penn would retake the lead on an 8-yard pass from Litzelman to Brandon Thompson with 7.4 seconds left in the third quarter to go back in front, 21-20.

The fourth quarter would be all Trojans, however. Just 12 seconds in they went to their passing game as Dominick Ayres connected with Ridge Spencer on a 71-yard bomb. Another two-point conversion run by Binford was good to give Troy a 28-21 lead. Troy scored again quickly after holding the Panthers to a 3-and-out. Starting near midfield they ran just four plays before Binford found the end zone from 28 yards out with 7:43 remaining to lead 34-21.

The win improves the Trojans to 2-1 (2-1 NTL Large School Division) while the Panthers fall to 1-1 (1-1 NTL Large School Division). North Penn-Mansfield has a bye week after their scheduled game with Canton was postponed due to COVID-19. Troy was also supposed to travel to Wellsboro, but that game was also postponed due to COVID-19.