High School Football

Penn Cambria rebounds with big victory over Forest Hills

CRESSON -- Despite losing many key players from last season's District 6 championship squad, Penn Cambria aims to reach the same level with lots of new faces in the lineup.

The Panthers took another big step forward towards achieving their goal Friday night, shrugging off a tough loss to Bald Eagle in Week 2 by soundly defeating LHAC rival Forest Hills 39-14.

"We had a good week of practice, and good weeks of practice usually transpire into good games on Fridays," Panthers coach Jason Grassi said. "That's what we're trying to preach with these guys, and we still have a long way to go. We're not where we want to be."

Grassi believes he is seeing improvement.

"We show glimpses of being a good football team. We're getting there. We got all new guys in there right now, and it takes time. For us to gut it out like we did tonight, I'm really happy about that," he added.

Play of the game: Shortly after Forest Hills cut the Penn Cambria lead to two scores, Panthers running back Corbin Vinglish tallied a 1-yard rushing touchdown as time expired in the first half.

Penn Cambria then added another score just 1:49 into the third quarter to build what approved to be an insurmountable 32-6 lead.

"I wanted to put our defense on the field first so we could get the ball the second half," Grassi said. "I mean, to score right before the half and then start the second half with another score, that's 14-point swing, and that's huge in a game like this."

Players of the game: Vinglish and Evan Latterner each turned in stellar performances offensively for the Panthers , with Latterner rushing for 124 yards and Vinglish compiling 121 yards.

The pair rushed for two scores apiece, as Penn Cambria had all six of its touchdowns in the contest come on the ground. Latterner also threw for 92 yards on 10-of-14 passing.

Unsung hero(es): Penn Cambria's young offensive line helped the Panthers rack up 403 yards of total offense and have only three of 53 offensive plays go for negative yardage.

Vinglish gave kudos to his teammates up front.

"There's four juniors and a freshman on our O-line," Vinglish said. "They're getting to know each other. Our communication needs to be big coming into the heart of the season. They're also being accountable, taking ownership for when they mess up, and that's what you need."

Most vital statistic: After turning the ball over on downs on its opening drive, Penn Cambria followed by scoring on five straight possessions.

"We started off a little slow, but we really came together and played some solid football," Latterner said. "We trust each other as a group, and that just keeps growing every Friday night. We're excited to see what we can accomplish."

Forest Hills coach Tom Blanchetti: "I think we need to be more consistent. We can't make one good play and sprint through the ball and then be satisfied and not do it the next play. Something that we've been harping on as a coaching staff is 100% effort every play. I saw a little bit more of that in the second half, even though the score wasn't in our favor."

Notable: Forest Hills was without senior starting quarterback Austin Pramuk... Freshman Ryder Kovach took the snaps for the Rangers... Penn Cambria's Ian Beck and Colin Ronan each added a rushing touchdown.

Records: Forest Hills (1-2), Penn Cambria (2-1).

Next week: Forest Hills hosts Chestnut Ridge; Penn Cambria travels to Bedford.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Forest Hills 0 6 0 8 — 14

Penn Cambria 7 19 6 7 — 39

First Quarter

PC -- Latterner 8 run (Golden kick), 3:52.

Second Quarter

PC -- Vinglish 2 run (Kick failed), 10:50.

PC -- Beck 6 run (Golden kick), 3:38.

FH -- Chumbley 15 run (Conversion failed), 1:27.

PC -- Vinglish 1 run (Kick failed), 0:00.

Third Quarter

PC -- Latterner 4 run (Conversion failed), 10:11.

Fourth Quarter

PC -- Ronan 21 run (Golden kick), 10:23.

FH -- Walker 5 run (Petak rush), 4:16

TEAM STATISTICS FH PC

First downs 10 17

Total yards 189 403

Rushes-yards 34-165 39-311

Yards passing 24 92

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 3-10-0 10-14-0

Punts-avg. 5-34.8 0-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 3-35 10-90

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Forest Hills, Minor 4-9, Chumbley 15-126, Kovach 7-3, Petak 5-21, Walker 1-5, Raptosh 2-1, Mullen 1-0. Penn Cambria, Latterner 13-124, Vinglish 16-121, Beck 3-19, Hassenplug 1-(-1), Ronan 5-39, Coudriet 1-9.

PASSING–Forest Hills, Kovach 3-10-24-0-0. Penn Cambria, Latterner 10-14-92-0-0.

RECEIVING–Forest Hills, Chumbley 1-1, Vitez 2-23. Penn Cambria, Coudriet 6-29, Mack 4-63.