While there certainly aren’t betting lines in high school football, and naming a favorite among two teams who are 2-6 (NPM) and 3-5 (CV) is more guesswork than “expertise” .. most prognosticators .. including this “expert” .. had North Penn-Mansfield coming out on top. 

“We talked all week on how you use doubt as fuel for success,” said CV Head Coach Jake Lane after the ‘upset’ win, “There is no better feeling than proving people wrong.”

The Indians came out of the gate hot on the cold October night, putting together an 11-play drive that, due to a pair of false start penalties, stalled out at the Mansfield 10 yard line. Facing a 4th-and-goal, CV opted to attempt a field goal and Gavin Churchill made the kick, with inches to spare, to give CV a 3-0 lead with just under seven minutes left in the opening frame. 

The Panthers’ ensuing drive ended when they turned the ball over on downs and the two teams then traded punts as each struggled to move the ball.

Cowanesque got great field position on the Panthers’ punt and took over near midfield with 30 seconds left in the first quarter. In a drive that spanned the first and second quarters, CV used an 18-yard completion from quarterback Graham Hess to Kegan Lane and a couple of Dave Hess runs to get to the NPM six. After drawing the Panthers offsides, starting left tackle Luke Sottolano lined up at fullback and would punch it in from the three and after Churchill’s good PAT kick the Indians led 10-0 with 10:49 left in the first half.

Graham Hess completed 11-of-17 passing attempts on the night for 151 yards and two scores, adding 62 yards on the ground on 10 carries and a 23 yard reception.

CV again forced a North Penn-Mansfield punt, and again had to punt themselves, setting the Panthers up at their own 21-yard line. A completion from NPM QB Cooper Shaw to Luke Kreger brought the ball near midfield and Shaw rumbled into CV territory on the next play as CV was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to set the Panthers up at CV’s 35. Shaw would keep it again and reach the 24, but CV’s defense came up with the stop after Shaw was stopped for no gain and three incomplete passes gave the ball back to the Indians at their own 24 with 5:29 remaining before the break.

The Indians would eventually punt the ball back to NPM and the Panthers would again stall out and line up to punt it back, but CV jumped offsides on the 4th-and-4 play and had a new set of downs with under a minute left. CV’s Dave Hess would end the NPM drive though with an interception and the Indians had the ball at their own 25 with 46 seconds remaining in the first half.

An option pitch to Tim Freeman gained no yards before Graham Hess found Jeavon Eick for a 16-yard gain. An incompletion stopped the clock for CV, but Hess was sacked back to his own 33 and CV had just 12 seconds left. A halfback pass to Graham Hess from Dave Hess gave CV the ball at NP-Mansfield’s 43-yard line and Graham Hess spike the ball with :01 on the first half clock to give the Indians a shot at the end zone. 

Hess showed off his arm on the final play of the half, reaching the goal line, where Luke Kreger looked to have the half-ending interception, but the ball squirted through his arms and into Eick’s as time expired. Churchill was again good on the extra point attempt and CV went into the locker rooms with a 17-0 lead. 

Coming out of the break with the ball, North Penn-Mansfield wasted little time showing they weren’t going to lay down. The Panthers completed a seven-play drive that ended with a Shaw 1-yard TD plunge. Brody Grinnell’s kick was good and NPM cut the CV lead to 17-7 with just three and a half minutes coming off the clock.

Shaw finished 15-for-32 passing on the night for 138 yards and a score with two interceptions and rushed for 44 yards and a TD on 20 carries. 

Coach Lane warned his players at halftime about a potential momentum swing, saying, “We talked at the half about how they are going to come out swinging.”

CV responded quickly, as Dave Hess took the ensuing kickoff and nearly broke it for a score, settling for a 1st-and-10 at the Panther 17-yard line. Four plays later, Graham Hess found Eick in the end zone. The Indians went for two and failed, but they extended their lead to 23-7 with 6:18 left in the third, earning praise from their Head Coach.

“I was proud of how the boys never dropped their heads when North Penn scored right out of the break,” said Lane, “They played smart, fundamental football and kept the momentum in our favor.”

The Panthers again rallied to try and catch up, and on a 4th-and-19 from the CV 37-yard line, Shaw hit Kreger for the TD and then scrambled in for the two-point conversion to pull to within a score at 23-15 with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

Kreger had eight catches for 116 yards and a score while Colton Pellett had three grabs for 18 yards and Riley Oakes had five carries for 48 yards and caught three passes totaling two yards.

CV’s ensuing drive took the game into the final quarter and ended with a turnover on downs at North Penn-Mansfield’s 17-yard line. The Panthers went on an 11-play drive, but CV’s defense came up with the huge turnover as Eick intercepted Shaw and the Indians had the ball at their own 29 with 9:16 remaining.

After forcing a CV punt, the Panthers had one last shot and the ball just inside CV territory with 3:15 left. Shaw kept the drive going on 4th-and-1 and NPM had a new set of downs at the CV 37 with 2:45 remaining in the game. Shaw completed a pass to Colton Pellet to the 25 and then ran it himself to the 14, but a holding call set the Panthers back once again. Shaw found Riley Oakes to get the ball inside the CV 20, but the Panthers again faced a 4th-and-1 and this time Shaw came up short, turning the ball back over to CV with just 39 seconds left. 

CV lined up in ‘victory’ formation and ran the clock out for the win. 

Defensively for the Indians, Freeman made five solo tackles and was in on seven more while Graham Hess had three solo stops and assisted on 10 more, Lane had two tackles and five assisted stops and a sack, Stevie Olson had a sack and three tackles, Lowell Baker had a tackle and six assists and a sack, Sottolano had a sack and Eick and Dave Hess each had a pick.

The Indians, now 4-5 on the season with their third straight win, will face Montgomery (6-3) next Saturday with a Class 2A playoff berth at stake. A win over the Red Raiders and the Indians would reach .500 on the season, earning them a spot in Districts.

North Penn-Mansfield, now 2-7 on the season, will play their final game of the season next Friday when they travel to Wellsboro to battle the Hornets (2-7) for the annual Morton F. Jones Game trophy.

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