By Rich Strack

tnsports@tnonline.comA first quarter punt return and a long touchdown drive late in the game highlighted Mahanoy Area's 19-12 victory over Panther Valley Friday night.On a fourth-and-three from the Golden Bear 40-yard line, a Panther punt chased junior Mason Evitts back to his own 10 where he then broke two tackles before darting down the left sideline to give Mahanoy an early lead."We stressed our special teams this week in practice too," said PV first year coach, Matt Davis. "We lost containment and at the end it was a big factor because otherwise we played them pretty evenly."With 4:18 to go in the first quarter, the Panthers (0-3) began a drive at their own 23-yard line. Senior Rian Shubeck ran five straight times between the tackles to move the ball to near midfield. Then, after a short gain by quarterback, Ali Capobianco, Shubeck plowed down to the Bears' 31. On a third and two, he capped a 10-play, 77-yard drive with a burst up the middle for a TD with less than a minute gone by in the second quarter.Penalties hurt the Bears (2-1) all night long as they were flagged 12 times for 106 yards, one of which caused a fourth down punt which traveled only 12 yards and gave the Panthers great field position at the MA 39 yard line. On a fourth down from the 33, Capobianco found Matt Hudicka on an out pattern for a 12 yard pick up and a first down. The drive stalled, however, when the Bears' Matt Yedsena intercepted a pass at the goal line."We basically executed our game plan," said Davis. "A few mental lapses hurt us, especially on offense, but still we were right there with the game on the line at the end."The Panthers closed the gap to a point when senior, Jake Suveg sliced off the right side and out ran the Bears' secondary for a 41 yard score at the nine minute mark of the third quarter. Then PV's defense stopped Mahanoy on downs at the Panther 35, but their offense went three and out. Back and forth punts ended the third with the Bears' holding a slim 13-12 lead.Mahanoy's star of the game was triple threat Evitts who, in addition his TD punt return, caught four passes and ran for 64 yards, He contributed 196 yards to his team's victorious effort."Mason is an excellent athlete," said Mahanoy coach Dave Holman. "He can run. He can catch. We try to get him into space and when they loaded up the box to take away the option, he was able to get on the edge and make some big plays for us."The Bears were on their way to increasing their lead In the fourth, but quarterback, Mason Ryan was stopped on a fourth down at the PV 19.After a Panther punt, Mahanoy came back with a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive that was accomplished on the running of Ryan, Lenny Dulsky and Michael Wronski. With just 1:56 to go, Dulsky scored from seven yards out to give the Bears a seven point cushion.Panther Valleys' final attempt to score the tying touchdown was stymied by a penalty that nullified a Capobianco pass to Cee Keo which would have put the ball deep into Bears' territory."I thought we played tough tonight against another good team," said Davis. "We can't hang our heads. We are starting to form and identity with what I felt was an outstanding effort on defense."We definitely got to the ball better. Though the result was disappointing, if we can keep this kind of effort, we will eventually come out on top."