Kreger finished with 16 rushes for 109 yards and two TD’s on the ground, had a reception for 12 yards, returned a punt 87 yards for a score and had two interceptions to lead North Penn-Mansfield to the win.

“Luke has been a leader throughout camp”, says Head Coach Jed Wright of Kreger, “He continues to impress me .. he’s a great kid.”

With a new QB running the offense for NPM in first-year senior Bradley Brooks, matching Kreger’s 60 catches from a season ago seems unlikely, so Wright indicated during camp that they would be exploring options to get Kreger his touches.

Friday night, Kreger’s first touch came by way of a first drive Wyalusing punt that he fielded at his own 13 and took to the house for the Panthers’ first TD of the season. Conner Lewis was good on the extra-point kick and NPM led 7-0 with 7:47 remaining in the first quarter. 

On the Rams’ ensuing possession, Kreger got his hands on the ball again, stepping in front of a Wyalusing pass at the 29 yard line. On his first offensive touch, Kreger took it in from 29 yards out and after Lewis was good once again, the Panthers led 14-0 with 4:20 left in the first.

The Rams put together a drive on their next possession that took the game into the second quarter, reaching the NPM five yard line and facing a 3rd-and-goal when Kreger struck again, intercepting a Ram pass in the end zone for the touch back.

The Panthers would end up punting it back to Wyalusing and the Rams took over at their own 46 yard line with just over 9 minutes left in the half. Wyalusing would punch it in for the score with 1:47 left before the break and their XP kick was good to cut the NPM lead to 14-7. 

Kreger took the ensuing kickoff back for a score, but a holding penalty put the Panthers back at their own 16 and they chose to run out the first half clock to take their 7-point lead into the locker rooms. 

After the break, North Penn started near midfield after Wyalusing attempted an onside kick to open the third quarter. Runs from Kreger and Jeremiah Lawrence set the Panthers up inside the 10 and they faced a 4th-and-goal from the one which Wyalusing stuffed and took over deep in their own territory. 

Playing out of the end zone, Wyalusing would punt the ball away and the Panthers set up at Wyalusing’s 41 for their next drive. 

On a 4th-and-two from the 3-yard line, Kreger would score the eventual game-winner on a dive over the right side. Lewis hit his third PAT of the night and Mansfield led 21-7 with 1:22 remaining in the 3rd quarter. 

Wyalusing put together a time-consuming drive that reached the Panther 1-yard line and after fumbling a handoff into the end zone and recovering it for the score, the Rams trailed 21-14 with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. 

Another squibbed kick by Wyalusing gave the Panthers a first-and-10 at their own 43 and NP-Mansfield rattled off several runs that drained the game clock down to 2 minutes. On 4th-and-10, Kreger hauled in his lone reception of the game from Brooks and with Wyalusing having burned all of their timeouts, the Panthers were able to go into ‘Victory’ formation and Brooks kneeled out the win.

“Winning week one is helpful”, said Wright of starting the season 1-0, “it gives the boys some confidence moving forward.”

Lawrence finished with 56 yards on 14 carries for North Penn-Mansfield while Sudan Benner had two carries for 15 yards and Brooks was 1-for-2 passing for 12 yards.

Defensively, seniors Patrick Youmans and Skyler Everetts each had seven solo stops and two assisted tackles, senior Ian Snyder had six tackles and helped on one more, Lawrence had five tackles and three assisted and Benner had four stops and was in on three more tackles. 

The Panthers (1-0) will look to keep their momentum going next Friday when they travel to take on Sayre (0-1), 57-8 losers to Troy in week one.