The year was 2008.

That's the last time a Panther Valley football team won its first two games of the season.Until now."It was a huge win," said first-year coach Scott Price of the Panthers' 14-0 win Friday night. "I told our kids that Hamburg was a very well-coached team and we would have to come with a mass intensity to defeat them."On the first play of the game, the Panthers appeared not to have that intensity as Hawks running back Brendan Hamilton broke several tackles on a 32-yard run. But then, Panther Valley's defense locked down on Hamburg's offense, limiting them to just 64 rushing yards in the entire game.Neither team could sustain a drive in the first quarter. With 9:29 to go in the second, Panther quarterback Hunter Kennedy found Tyler Baez on a 31-yard pass-and-run touchdown play to give the black and gold a 6-0 lead. The rest of the half was played with hardly any first downs. In fact, Hamburg moved the chains just twice before the intermission.The Hawks came out of the locker room and had the look of a different team than they were in the first half. Freshman Ryan Moseman took over for injured starter Donovan Remp at quarterback and marched his team 44 yards down field to the PV 16 before Panther linebacker Hunter Kerestes broke through on fourth down to make a tackle three yards behind the line of scrimmage."We just lacked consistency across the board," said Hamburg coach Chuck Kutz. "We'd get a couple of good plays and then a setback. The effort was there, but there were too many breakdowns."PV then drove 73 yards, highlighted by a 48-yard scamper around left end by Tanner Kennedy. The drive stalled with a fourth down incomplete pass at the Hamburg 8-yard line.With the score still at 6-0, both teams threatened to score in the fourth quarter. With just under six minutes to go and Hamburg looking at a second and 20 from its own 15-yard line, Moseman's pass was deflected into the hands of senior cornerback Jonathan Hafer, who returned the interception 15 yards for a touchdown.The night featured the play of Panther Valley's two "Hunters." Senior quarterback Hunter Kennedy rushed for 43 yards and more importantly, did not have a turnover. Senior fullback Hunter Kerestes bulldozed between the tackles for a hard earned 68 yards."Our philosophy is that we do what we have to do," said Price. "We want to run the football and dominate time of possession. Controlling the clock is our strength."With a happy locker room behind him, Price now sets his sights on a strong Jim Thorpe team who travels to Panther Valley next Friday night."We're 2-0 and they're 2-0. It doesn't get any better than that," said Price. "We'll have to be prepared for them and we will be."TWO TURNING POINTS ... Obviously, the Hafer interception return was huge, but credit also has to go to Kerestes for stopping the Hamburg drive early in the third quarter when the Hawks were knocking on the door.TECHNO NO NO ... No fewer than six people came into the press box during the game to report a lost iPhone. The moral of the mess seemed to be don't loan it to someone else to use because you may never get it back.PANTHER PRIDE ... Coach Price has accepted the difficult challenge of trying to turn around a program that has fallen on hard times, but the excitement from the Panther players and fans was loud and clear, especially when the final horn sounded.