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The North Penn-Mansfield Panthers broke a 6-6 tie in the fourth quarter to win 16-6 against Bloomsburg in the quarterfinals of the District IV Class AA playoffs on Friday, November 2 at Mansfield University.

“We felt we learned from our mistakes last game,” said Panther head coach Tom Dickinson. “We had 5 games on them, you break them all down and get as many tendencies as you can. I felt we had a much better game plan defensively going in this time than last time.”

Bloomsburg was North Penn’s last loss (28-7) back in week 3 on September 7. In that game North Penn was penalized 16 times for 194 yards. Friday, the Panthers got their revenge.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever had 8 (wins) in a row,” continued Dickinson. “We talked to the seniors about that. Now there’s 28 teams left in the state in AA and we’re one of them.”

North Penn started off with the ball on the opening kick. A long return by Noah Spencer set the Panthers up with great field position. From there the Panthers mixed in runs by Mikah Kolb and Garrett David to get within scoring position. QB Brent Burleigh then hit David on a swing pass and he took it the final 6 yards for the score.

With 9:42 left the Panthers had a 6-0 lead after the extra point missed.

North Penn kept their lead at 6-0 through halftime and just past the midway point of the third quarter. With 5:55 left Bloomsburg tied the game up a 6-all on a 2-yard run by Hunter Coulter.

The game remained tied as the fourth quarter started. That’s when North Penn took back over. With the ball at the Bloomsburg 44, Spencer moved the Panthers down inside the red zone. From the 25, Burleigh setup a screen pass to Kolb down near the Bloomsburg 10. Spencer then finished the drive and found the end zone from 10 yards out with 9:57 left on the clock. North Penn went for two a play later as Burleigh found David on the pass to make it 14-6.

Later the North Penn defense scored as Bloomsburg was pinned back at their own three and fumbled a pass that was recovered in the end zone for a safety with 1:52 remaining.

Burleigh finished the night 13-for-21 through the air for 67 yards and the touchdown to David. Kolb was the leading rusher with 47 yards on 17 carries while Spencer finished with 40 yards on 3 touches. David led the receiving corps with 3 catches for 23 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball David made 10 tackles, Bryan Bogaczyk was in on 6 tackles and Roch Minnich made 5 tackles, 3 for loss, and had 2 sacks.

The win improves the Panthers’ record to 9-2 overall. North Penn-Mansfield will now take on #2 seed Mount Carmel on Friday, November 9 at Mount Carmel. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

“Last year we had to go to Southern, they were state champs, and now it’s a new venture down in Mount Carmel,” concluded Dickinson. “Everyone says it’s a very hostile environment down there. We didn’t back down last year and we won’t back down this year.”