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The North Penn-Mansfield Panthers fell victim to South Williamsport’s ground game in a 48-26 loss on Friday, September 17. Not even two minutes into the game South’s Ashton Martin took a dive hand off 64 yards to paydirt to put the Mounties up 6-0 after missing the extra point.

With 6:08 remaining in the opening quarter, South’s Gideon Green scored from 6 yards out to make it 13-0 after Dean Seaman’s kick, then an Austin Nash interception went 93 yards for a score to put South Williamsport up 20-0.

The Panthers finally put a drive together to start the second as Brent Burleigh completed passes to Sawyer Freeman and Nick Kasper before finally finding Dylan Wesneski from 7 yards out to cut the score to 20-6 with 8:57 remaining in the half.

South kept rolling as Green scored another rushing touchdown two minutes later, this time from 3 yards out, then quarterback AJ Flick found Cole Lentz open for a touchdown from 19 yards out before connecting with Nash on a 46-yard pass play to put South up 41-6 at halftime.

South scored once more on the night midway through the third quarter as Martin again found running room through the Panther defense and scored from 24 yards out to make it 48-6.

The Panthers found success as the fourth quarter started as Burleigh rushed for back-to-back touchdowns. The first came with 9:37 remaining from 12 yards out and the second from 3 yards away to chip away at the lead. North Penn added one final score with 3:45 remaining as Colton Litzleman connected with Naseer Burzak on a 40 yard score.

Burleigh finished 10-for-20 for 106 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions while Litzleman completed his only pass for 40 yards and a score. Isaac Way led the Panthers’ ground game with 48 yards on 7 carries with Brendan Hill adding 35 yards on 14 attempts. Nick Kasper caught 4 passes for 46 yards and Wesneski finished with 3 catches for 35.

Green had a game-high 186 yards and two touchdowns and Martin tacked on 124 yards and two touchdowns of his own. Flick threw for 98 yards and two scores.

Next up for the Panthers is their Homecoming game on Friday, September 22 against the Canton Warriors.