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The North Penn-Mansfield Panthers pulled out a 25-22 win on the road against the undefeated Canton Warriors of Friday, October 19 to put them in first place in the NTL Large School Division.

First quarter – The Panthers start moving the ball late in the quarter. Just outside the Canton 30, Noah Spencer takes the handoff and picks up a first down inside the 20. One play later Brent Burleigh throws a screen out to Dylan Meyer down inside the 10.

Canton’s defense comes up with a huge goal line stop on Garrett David, forcing a Panther field goal. From 25 yards out, Kevin Alexander’s kick was good, giving North Penn-Mansfield a 3-0 lead as the quarter comes to an end.

Second quarter – With under 3 minutes remaining just past midfield, Burleigh hits Justin Shedd on a screen pass all the way down inside the Warrior 5. Canton came up with another goal line stand on 2nd down as they dropped Burleigh for a sack back at the 7, but one play later the Panther QB finds Dylan Meyer for a touchdown. Alexander’s kick was good, and the Panthers held a 10-0 lead with 2:13 remaining.

Canton, however, went into the half with all the momentum. On 4th down at the Panther 36, Uriah Bailie throws up a prayer that Benn Knapp answers as time expires. The Warriors line up for the two-point conversion, and Bailie hits Timmy Ward at the goal line, cutting the Panther lead to 10-8.

Third quarter – Canton takes the lead just under the 8 minute mark. As Bailie drops back to pass, he finds Knapp on a post from 17 yards out to put the Warriors in front. Again Canton lines up for two, this time Michael Smithers scrambles to find Levi Gaiotti in the back of the end zone, putting Canton up 16-10.

North Penn cut into Canton’s lead late in the quarter as Roch Minnich sacked Smithers in the end zone for a safety with 1:13 remaining. After 3 quarters of play Canton held a slim 16-12 lead.

Fourth quarter – The Panthers went back on top early in the quarter as Burleigh found Meyer for the second time on the night. With 10:31 remaining, the Panthers went back on top, 18-16.

After a failed Warrior drive, the Panthers took back over and began to march down the field. On 4th down, Burelgih hit David in the flat, and the big fella took the ball down inside the 10.

One play later David capped the drive from 7 yards out as he dives into the end zone to make it 25-16 with 6:19 left.

Canton kept fighting and hit a huge play to setup a 1st-and-goal. At the Panther 43, Bailie unleashed a bomb to Ward down to the 5. One play later Bailie called his own number and cut the Panther’s lead to 25-22 with 2:12 remaining.

As the Panthers tried to kill the clock, Canton’s defense came up with a huge hit on Mikah Kolb to recover the ball in Panther territory. Luckily, the turnover didn’t hurt them as one play later, David comes up with an interception to seal the victory.

The win improves the Panthers’ record to 7-2 and undefeated at 6-0 in the Large School Division. Next up for North Penn-Mansfield is their final regular season game against rival Wellsboro for the Morton Jones Trophy.