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This past Friday was a special night for North Penn-Mansfield and North Penn-Liberty as the schools crowned their homecoming kings and queens and the Panthers football team topped the Wyalusing Rams, 53-6.

The night began with the homecoming parade down Main Street in Blossburg. Homecoming continued as the communities gathered together to cheer on the Panthers, who struck early, leading 7-0 going into a huge second and third quarter.

Second quarter – with the Panther offense set up on Wyalusing 20, North Penn-Mansfield quarterback Brent Burleigh found Dylan Meyer open on the left side as he rushed in for the touchdown. After Noah Spencer’s extra point, the Panthers led 14-0. During the North Penn-Mansfield’s next possession, Burleigh launched a 32 yard bomb to Justin Shedd. Then Garrett David took it straight up the middle for the easy score, increasing the Panther’s lead, 20-0 with just under 8 minutes left in the half. Later, David scored again as he said “see ya!” to the Rams defense for the 75-yard touchdown, making it 27-0.

The Rams finally put a scoring drive together with 2:47 left in the half as Trent Nickeson punched it in on the right side.

But the Panthers weren’t done yet. Burleigh stepped back and sent one sailing to Shedd for a 55-yard pass, increasing their lead to 33 after the extra point. North Penn-Mansfield’s defense came up big on the Rams next possession as Bryan Bogaczyk intercepted a pass and took it down to the Rams 55. A few plays later, Burleigh found Mikah Kolb in the red zone, putting the Panthers in scoring position. Then another quick pass to David put the Panthers up 39-0. With seconds left in the half, North Penn-Mansfield attempted a two-point conversion as Kolb muscled his way in, sending the Panthers into the locker room with a 41-6 halftime lead.

During halftime, the homecoming kings and queens were coronated. Roch Minnich was named homecoming king for North Penn-Mansfield, and Brooke Harvey was crowned queen. For North Penn-Liberty, Mikah Kolb was named king and Katrina Davis, queen.

Third quarter, the Panther’s Burleigh tossed a quick lateral pass to Spencer who took it 40 yards for the score. With 4:28 left in the quarter, North Penn-Mansfield led 47, 6.

The Panthers scored their final touchdown of the night a few minutes later. After holding the Rams on downs, Burleigh handed the ball off to Bogaczyk who turned on the jets to run 75 yards to pay dirt. Their defense held the remaining quarter as the Panthers carried on to win, 53 to 6.

The Panthers will be back on the field this Friday as they host GAR Memorial.