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The Towanda Black Knights pulled off a major upset in the NTL Large School Division on Friday, October 11 by handing the North Penn-Mansfield Panthers a 35-32 loss during their Homecoming at Island Park.

An early turnover put the Panthers behind the eight ball, as Towanda forced a fumble by Colton Litzelman and recovered it deep in Panther territory. The Black Knights capitalized on the turnover as Haven Benjamin-Fee scored on a short run to take an early lead.

North Penn quickly answered, however, on the Black Knights’ next drive. Kaelan Matczak stepped in front of a Tanner Kunkle pass and took it down all the way inside the 5. From there Bryan Bogaczyk fought his way across the goal line, tying the game at 7-all with 10 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Both teams again traded scoring drives in the second quarter, put North Penn would come out on top to end the half. Towanda retook the lead with 9:05 to go as Kunkle connected with Trent Kithcart, but the extra point failed. North Penn struck later as Litzelman hit Matczak on a deep pass down to the Towanda 10, and then found Logan Tokarz on a touchdown strike. Kevin Alexander’s extra point connected, giving the Panthers a 14-13 halftime lead.

Towanda again retook the lead in the beginning of the 2nd half as Kunkle and Kithcart connected on another touchdown pass, then connected on the ensuing two-point conversion, to go up 21-14. The Panthers answered again as Bogaczyk took a jet sweep hand off and went untouched for 6 points. Alexander hit the extra point to tie the game at 21-all, before they took their first lead of the night.

As the fourth quarter started a Panther drive stalled, but Alexander converted his field goal attempt putting the Panthers up 24-21.

The Black Knights answered again to retake the lead as Kunkle scored from short yardage, then later Jyshaire Robinson found the end zone to make it 35-24 with just under two minutes to go.

The Panthers weren’t done and scored the game’s final points on a successful two-minute drill. Highlighted by a Litzelman pass to Matczak, Litzelman found Koleton Roupp uncovered in the end zone to pull the Panthers to within three points, 35-32. North Penn lined up for the onsides kick but Towanda recovered to steal the win.

The loss drops the Panthers back to .500 at 4-4 (3-2 NTL Large School Division) as they enter a short week to get ready for the Canton Warriors, back at Island Park on Thursday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m.