Panthers inching closer to perfect regular season
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By Kevin Petrochko
For the Mirror
CRESSON -- The Penn Cambria Panthers came into Friday night's game against the McCort-Carroll Crushers looking to keep their record blemish-free.
Led by a two-touchdown performance by senior wide receiver Gavin Harrold, they did just that by defeating the Crushers 24-12 on Friday night at Penn Cambria Stadium.
The win now moves the Panthers to 9-0 on the season for the first time since 1989.
"You try not to think about it too much," Penn Cambria coach Nick Felus said. "Sometimes you have to stop and enjoy the fruits of your labor."
Senior receiver Gavin Harrold racked up two touchdown runs in the first and third quarters, respectively, to lead the Panthers to victory.
"Definitely pleased with how we're playing," said Harrold. "But the job is not finished."
With 8:19 left in the third quarter, Panther quarterback Brady Jones scored on a 60-yard touchdown run to give Penn Cambria a 16-6 lead.
"I read the safety and hit it," said Jones. "It's championship week, so we got to have championship-like practices."
The Crushers kept the game close for most of the night, but ran out of time in the end to come away with the victory.
"We played probably one of the top teams in our league tonight," McCort-Carroll coach Tom Smith said. "The difference tonight, we ran out of time. I think we pressed them all night back and forth.
Play of the game: Brady Jones racked up a 60-yard touchdown run for Penn Cambria in the third quarter.
Player of the game: Panther wide receiver Gavin Harrold scored two touchdowns for Penn Cambria in the first and third quarters, respectively.
Unsung hero: Senior running back Thomas Plunkett finished the game with ten carries for 42 yards for the Panthers.
Most vital statistic: Penn Cambria's racked up 116 yards on the ground.
Felus: "I thought we really controlled the game in the third quarter,'' said Felus. "We've got some things we have to clean up, execution-wise, on both sides of the ball."
Smith: "We're going to give credit to them," Smith said. "But we're also going to give a lot of credit to this football team that was on our sideline tonight; they fought every bit of the way."
Harrold: "We know we definitely can be better,'' Harrold said. "Definitely have to limit the turnovers this next week."
Records: Penn Cambria (9-0), Bishop McCort (5-4)
Next week: Penn Cambria will host Bishop Guilfoyle, while McCort-Carroll will welcome in Bellwood-Antis.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
McCort-Carroll 0 0 6 6 -- 12
Penn Cambria 8 0 16 0 -- 24
First Quarter
PC - Harrold 6 run (Jones pass to Harrold) 4:11
Third Quarter
MC--Farabaugh 69 pass (Pass failed), 10:56.
PC--Jones 60 run (Jones run), 8:19.
PC - Harrold 1 run (Jones pass to Hite) 1:35
Fourth Quarter
MC--Gallucci 1 run (run failed), 3:17.
TEAM STATISTICS MC PC
First downs 11 10
Total yards 269 242
Rushes-yards 34-223 30-116
Yards passing 46 126
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 4-10-0 9-34-0
Punts-avg. 6-33 6-31.6
Fumbles-lost 0 2
Penalties-yards 6-65 2-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- McCort-Carroll, Spontak 1-1, Farabaugh 3-16, Gallucci 18-64, Delia 8-35. Penn Cambria, B.Jones 13-114, Plunkett 10-42, Harrold 7-32, Mento 4-35.
PASSING -- McCort-Carroll, Gallucci 9-31-126-0, Farabaugh 0-3-0-0. Penn Cambria, B. Jones 4-10-46-0
RECEIVING -- McCort-Carroll, Delia 3-12, Dressick 3-39, Farabaugh 2-70, Page1-5. Penn Cambria, Harrold 3-42, Plunkett 1-4.