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A 24-point second quarter, led by two touchdowns by quarterback Brent Burleigh, gave the North Penn-Mansfield Panthers a 34-7 win over the visiting Troy Trojans at Island Park on Friday, September 14.

North Penn scored on their opening drive as Kevin Alexander kicked a 26-yard field goal with 9:25 remaining in the opening frame to give the Panthers an early lead. 12 minutes later in the second quarter Alexander hit another field goal from 20 yards out to make the lead 6-0.

After Alexander’s second field goal the Panthers went on a scoring tear to take control of the game.

After holding Troy and forcing a punt, not even two minutes later, the Panther offense found the end zone as Burleigh went up top to Dylan Meyer. Meyer hauled in the pass then out-raced the Troy defensive back for a 75-yard touchdown. On North Penn-Mansfield’s next drive, Burleigh again threw for a score. This time he hit Garrett David in the flat for a short gain, but David juked out a defender and found the end zone from 2 yards out.

After another defensive stop Mikah Kolb scampered into the end zone from 9 yards out with 1:49 left before halftime to increase the Panthers’ lead to 27-0. Troy managed to find the end zone to avoid the shutout before the half expired on a 57-yard run by Bailey Cohick to make the score 27-7.

The score stayed 27-7 until there was 2:58 remaining in the game. North Penn-Mansfield’s Noah Spencer intercepted a Dominick Ayres pass with over three minutes remaining and returned it inside the Troy 20. Three plays later David took the hand off and ran in from 10 yards out for the game’s final score.

Burleigh went 14-for-24 through the air for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns, Kolb led the Panthers on the ground with 105 yards on 18 carries, and Meyer caught 3 passes for 105 yards. David also gained 50 yards on 9 carries and caught 2 passes for 16 yards. Justin Shedd caught 1 pass for 15 yards and Sawyer Freeman caught 4 passes for 43 yards.

Defensively David had 11 tackles and recovered a fumble, Bryan Bogaczyk recorded 7 tackles, an interception return for 47 yards and a forced fumble, and John Minnich had 6 tackles and a sack.

The win evens the Panthers record back up at 2-2, and improves them to 2-0 in the NTL Large School Division. The Panthers are back in action this Friday night, on the road against the Cowanesque Valley Indians.