After a slow start that saw CV turn the ball over on downs, fumble away an opportunity at the Panthers’ 1-yard line and punt away their third possession, Dave Hess set the Indians up at the NP-Mansfield 20-yard line with a nice punt return. 

Hess, who recently moved from running back to QB for CV, would finish off the short drive with a 19-yard run. Gavin Churchill hot the extra point kick and the Indians led 7-0 with 55 seconds left in the opening quarter. 

CV’s defense, which forced a pair of North Penn-Mansfield punts and a turnover in the first quarter, again stopped a Panther drive and Hess took the punt return in for the score, but a penalty brought it back and the Indians would turn the ball over on downs at the Panther 27.

Another forced punt by the Indians’ ‘D’ gave them the ball at their own 35 as the second quarter wound down. After a couple of gains by Kegan Lane, Hess found Cam Stahli for a 57-yard TD pass and after Churchill’s good PAT, CV led 14-0 with 2:29 left before the break. 

The teams came out of the locker room and North Penn-Mansfield put together their best drive of the game .. highlighted by a pair of pass completions from All-State receiver Luke Kreger, now rotating in at QB for NPM with freshman Peyton Green since starting signal-caller Bradley Brooks was lost to an injury two weeks ago, to Colton Pellett. 

A pair of costly CV penalties helped the Panthers reach the Indians’ 11-yard line when Kreger tried to hit Pellett for the third time in the drive. Hess picked off the pass and it appeared that NPM came up empty again, but as Hess had stepped out of the end zone briefly before re-entering and taking the touchback, the call was a safety for North Penn-Mansfield and the Panthers now trailed 14-2 and would get the ball back with just three minutes gone in the third quarter.

The Panthers took the ensuing free kick into CV territory and Kreger, still at QB, rattled off a pair of runs that set NPM up at the Indians’ 13. Kreger looked to pass but was forced to scramble and found his way to the end zone with 7:09 left in the third. 

The kick was wide right and the Panthers cut CV’s lead to 14-8 with a lot of game left, but it would be all Cowanesque Valley from there on out. 

Hess took the ensuing kick off all the way in for the score to bump CV’s lead back to 20-8 after a failed two-point try, then ended the Panthers’ next drive with a pick and eventually a 42-yard TD run on a keeper right through the middle of North Penn-Mansfield’s defense. Churchill hit the extra point and CV led 27-8 with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. 

CV forced another NPM turnover-on-downs as they headed to the fourth quarter, and again after Hess was intercepted in the end zone by Pellett. 

Lane, who was a workhorse for the Indians all night with 29 carries for 190 yards, scored from 14 yards out with just over three minutes left in the game. Max Millard punched in the two-point conversion to provide the 35-8 final.

Hess finished with 111 yards and two touchdowns on the ground on 12 carries while completing 3-of-9 passes for 80 yards and a score. 

Defensively, Lane collected 13 tackles with three sacks while Churchill had 10 stops, including a sack. Stevie Olson had a pair of sacks and eight tackles, Luke Sottolano had five stops with a sack and Hess had three picks and added five tackles. 

North Penn-Mansfield falls to 4-5 on the season with their fifth straight loss. They’ll host Wellsboro next Friday night in the Morton F. Jones Memorial Trophy Game as they look to even their record and make the 2A playoffs. 

Cowanesque Valley punches their ticket to the postseason with their third straight win to move to 5-4 on the year. They’ll finish their regular season schedule next Friday at Montgomery.