The final statistics do not tell the true story of Panther Valley's 8-0 loss to Minersville on Friday night.

Let's start with the fact that the Panthers gained exactly one total yard in the first quarter and ended with 14 rushing yards at the half.But the Panthers' defense allowed only one completed pass to Minersville for the entire game.Unfortunately for them, the nine yard first quarter Battlin' Miners' pass and run play resulted in the game's only touchdown."Obviously we couldn't get anything going in the first half," said Panther Valley coach Matt Davis.The Battlin' Miners scored on a five play, 65-yard drive with nine minutes gone by in the game. The big play was a 44-yard run by freshman quarterback, Keidre Taylor that put the ball on the Panther six yard line. Following a three yard loss, Taylor hit Dave Schultz in the left flat for the nine yard run and pass touchdown, Schultz then ran off guard for the two-point conversion, which held up as the eventual eight point margin of victory for Minersville."With both teams coming in with only one win on the season, you just don't know what to expect," said Miners' coach Pat Mason." We did expect a tough game from them and even though they didn't start well, they came back strong in the second half."The Panthers took the second half kickoff and began a drive that would take nearly 10 minutes and a total of 19 plays. Ali Capobianco, who came in to quarterback PV's offense with four minutes to go in the first half, along with running back, Isaiah Cruz-Ortiz, sparked the drive.A big play was Capiobianco's pass to Anthony Micholik which gave the Panthers' a first and goal at the Minersville four yard line. A quarterback keeper moved the ball to the two, but the Panthers were flagged with a personal foul penalty that moved the ball back to Miners' 18 where PV ran out of downs after two incomplete passes."That penalty was the game changer," said Davis. "We had all the momentum going for us. There are no excuses. We have to keep our discipline when we get that close to scoring."The Miners' offense was plagued by penalties in the second half, but they managed to drive to the Panthers' 25 early in the fourth quarter when a third down pass was intercepted by Josue Rodriguez to put an end to the threat.Late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were on their own 27 yard line. A fourth down pass was intercepted by the Miners' Brian Brennan at the PV 49 and that oddly resulted in the Panthers' favor because had the pass been incomplete Minersville would have had possession on the PV 27 with 1:30 to go in the game. With time outs and a shut down defensive series, PV forced a punt and took over at its own 28.On first down, Capiobianco connected with Micholik for a 13 yard pick up to the 41. After an incomplete pass, Capiobianco scrambled for 15 yards to the Minersville 44. With five seconds remaining, Capioianco was flushed from the pocket, but still managed to run for 16 more yards where the game ended at the Miners' 28-yard line."We challenged our kids to go out and win this one," said Davis. "Early on they smashed us in the mouth pretty good, but then our kids dug deep and battled right to the last play."It came down to one big penalty and not enough time to finish the final drive that made the difference in the Panthers' efforts to win their second game of the season.