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A week after picking up their first win of the 2018 season the North Penn-Mansfield Panthers suffered a 28-7 loss at the hands of the Bloomsburg Panthers on Friday, September 7.

Things started out well for the host Panthers as Brent Burleigh connected with Mikah Kolb on a deep pass down inside the Bloomsburg 5-yard line midway through the opening quarter. After a penalty moved the ball to the 1, Garrett David bulldozed his way into the end zone with 5:55 left. Kevin Alexander’s extra point was good and North Penn-Mansfield held an early 7-0 lead.

After that score, however, Bloomsburg shut down North Penn-Mansfield’s offense and scored 28 unanswered points. North Penn-Mansfield’s lack of offense, combined with numerous penalties, led to Bloomsburg’s second half surge. Both teams combined for 30 penalties (North Penn-Mansfield 16, Bloomsburg 14) and 325 penalty yards (North Penn-Mansfield 194, Bloomsburg 131).

Bloomsburg found the end zone for the first time with 9:57 remaining in the second half as Aiden Klinger scored from 44 yards out on the ground to tie the game at 7-7 following Torsten Hartman’s extra point.

The score remained tied for the remainder of the half, but in the second, Bloomsburg’s Hunter Coulter took over. Coulter and Jack Howell connected on a 9-yard scoring strike with 7:23 left in the third to give the visiting Panthers the lead. Then Coulter scored from 7 yards out on the ground with 11 seconds left in quarter, then again found the end zone from 9 yards out with 1:31 remaining in the game to drive the final nail in the North Penn-Mansfield coffin.

Coulter finished with 104 yards on 17 carries to lead all rushers.

For North Penn-Mansfield Burleigh finished 6-for-16 for 46 yards. Kolb led the Panther running backs with 23 yards on 10 carries and also the receivers with 2 catches for 28 yards. David finished with 17 tackles and an interception for the Panther defense while Cameron Andrews made 11 tackles and Kolb, Roch Minnich, and Dylan Meyer all made 8 tackles.

“It was even through the half and it got out of control and that’s my fault,” said head coach Tom Dickinson. “I didn’t control our players and we’ll correct that and it won’t happen again. Next week we’re back in the league and we have to fix some things to get back with Troy.”

Next week the Panthers (1-2, 1-0 NTL Large School Division) return home for an NTL match up against the Troy Trojans on Friday, September 14.