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Mikah Kolb rushed for three touchdowns and Brent Burleigh threw for two more as the North Penn-Mansfield Panthers rebounded from a 51-6 week one loss to Montoursville to shutout Athens 42-0 on Friday, August 31.

“I told the kids last week we had to put that game behind us,” said Panther head coach Tom Dickinson. “Everything went wrong that could and we did. Defense played outstanding in shutting them out and the offense kept their offense off the field and kept moving it, and finished plays we they needed to so I was very pleased.”

The Panthers got things started on their opening drive. With 9:36 remaining Burleigh threw a bomb up to Dylan Meyer and the power forward turned wide receiver snatching the ball away from the Athens defender for a touchdown. Later in the second quarter Burleigh threw his second scoring strike of the game, this time to Garrett David, to increase the Panthers’ lead to 14-0.

Then it was Kolb’s turn as he ripped off three straight scores to put the game firmly in control for North Penn-Mansfield. His first run came midway through the second from a yard out to make it 21-0, then plowed his way behind the Panthers’ offensive line from 5 yards out to give the Panthers a 28-0 lead before the first half came to a close.

Later, following a Wildcat fumble, Kolb found pay dirt for the third time of the night right up the guy of the Athens defense to give the Panthers a 35-0 lead.

North Penn-Mansfield’s final touchdown came late in the game as Bryan Bogaczyk found the end zone to make it 42-0 and give the Panthers their first win of the 2018 season.

Kolb finished with 109 yards rushing on 15 carries. Burleigh completed 10-of-12 passes for 2 touchdowns and 133 yards. Meyer led the Panther receivers with 4 catches for 46 yards.

David racked up 75 yards rushing on 8 carries and caught 3 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown. Noah Spencer added 65 yards rushing on 9 attempts and Bogaczyk finished with 34 yards on 11 tries.

Next week for the Panthers is another home battle against another group of Panthers, these ones from Bloomsburg (39-0 winners over Mifflinburg), on Friday, September 7.

“They played Southern Columbia last week, we know what that’s like, so it’ll be a battle,” Dickinson said of his week three match up. “They have a trip to take though so we got one under our belts and we just got to be better next week. Even though it was 42-0 there’s a lot that we need to work on and get better at. We’ll look at film and we’ll improve.”