Panthers Prevail!

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For the second consecutive year the North Penn Panthers prevailed in the battle for the Morton Jones Memorial Trophy and the home town crowd was treated with a 27-6 thrashing of arch rival Wellsboro.

Most everyone, including coaches, players and fans alike were impressed with the caliber of play the Panthers had during the annual contest.

Most, if not all, were most impressed with North Penn all but shutting down the Wellsboro ground attack.

Wellsboro was held to their lowest rushing game of the season, 33 yards on 14 carries. The only major highlight for Wellsboro was senior quarterback Will Osgood who came into the game only 16 yards shy of breaking the 1,000 yard passing mark.

Osgood ended the night with six completions for 87 yards. He ends the season with 1,071 yards passing. Although the North Penn defense dominated on the ground attack, it was the North Penn offense who controlled the pace of the game and time of possession.

"They (Wellsboro) didn't have the chance to get the ball," North Penn coach Tom Dickinson said. "The key to the win was our offense controlling the ball and clock and the defense doing a good job stopping Wellsboro's runners."

According to Dickinson the main reason the North Penn defense had such a successful time stopping Wellsboro's offensive attack was focus.

"Going in we saw both teams even with a lot of similar scores and who we each had beat," Dickinson said. "I thought we had a good game plan and we told the kids stick to their assignments.

North Penn not only stuck to their assignments they stuck bone jarring hits to Wellsboro's running backs, limiting the success of their ground game. That was due in part to the exceptional play of the Panthers.

"A couple of seniors had assignments. Kaufmann was responsible for Keck. He was just determined and just shut him down," Dickinson said.

Brandon Keck was restricted to only 10 yards rushing. The Wellsboro senior entered the game needing just over 100 yards to break the 1,000 yard rushing plateau on the season.

Wellsboro was not only limited on the inside, they were denied any rushing action to the outside.

"Tyler Payne was responsible with the option and it helped us get an early turnover," Dickinson said.

Kauffman was also one of the main driving forces behind the North Penn offense. The Mansfield senior gobbled up 80 yards. But the go-to back of the night was Kyle Stockton.

Stockton's hard nosed attack helped the Panthers out of third and long situations more than once. He pounded his way to 104 yards rushing.

The Panthers also mixed up the hard nosed running by adding the speed of Charles Alderfer. Alderfer broke several plays open and amassed 80 yards on the night.

"With those two backs (Stockton and Kaufman) serving as our power backs, we could send in Chuck (Alderfer) to use his speed and try to pop him loose," Dickinson said.

Alderfer also pulled in several monumental catches from Panther signal caller Rob Brant.

"Chuck made some great catches as well as (Adam) Breon," Dickinson said.

Brant ended the night completing 4-of-6 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown.

North Penn got on the board in the final minutes of the first quarter on a Brant keeper. He rushed in from six yards out to get the Panthers on the board. Sam Kreger added the extra point to earn the Panthers a 7-0 lead with 3:3 i remaining in the first quarter.

North Penn struck again early in the second quarter after stalling at the Wellsboro 33-yard line. Although too far to try for a first down on fourth and eleven, it's wasn't out of range of the strong legs of Kreger who had the distance to give North Penn a 10-0 lead with 10:19 remaining in the second frame.

Less than eight minutes later North Penn had another successful drive which was capped by a Alderfer 22 yard run. Kreger followed with the extra point to build North Penn's lead to 17-0, which they carried into half time.

Midway through the third quarter, Brant connected with Mike Watkins for a 21 yard touchdown completion with 5:40 remaining. Kreger's placement on the extra point was good and built North Penn's lead to 24-0.

Wellsboro finally got on the board after driving to the North Penn two yard line with 3:01 remaining. Jeremy Walrath punched the ball through the line and into the end zone. Wellsboro failed on the two-point conversion.

North Penn's final score of the night came when Kreger added his second 33 yard field goal with 9:20 remaining in the final frame. His placement on the kick led to the eventual 27-6 win. North Penn ends the season with a 6-4 record. North Penn will lose 10 seniors from the team who ended the season on a high note.

"I think this capped their careers," Dickinson said of the win. "They had a successful four years and did a good job going out beating Wellsboro."