HAMBURG — Rick Jones isn’t sure if Panther Valley is a year or more away from contending.

And the Panthers’ first-year mentor isn’t about to put a timeline on the program’s turnaround.

Jones saw Panther Valley take another step forward in Friday night’s 49-14 loss to Hamburg, an outcome that Jones drew more positives from than the score indicated.

“Just the fact that we came out and played hard,” he said. “We know that we’re a program that’s in transition right now, and we’re just taking it one game, one day at a time.

“Our No. 1 objective is to come out and compete. They had one offensive touchdown in the first half. I thought they kind of wore us down in the second half, and we understand that. We’re not a strong team at this point yet.”

The Panthers (0-2) opened the game with a methodical 80-yard drive that ended with Ethan Reis hitting Blake White for a four-yard touchdown pass, with Blake Morgans’ extra point making the score 7-0 at the 9:34 mark of the first quarter. Reis and White hooked up three times on the series for 74 yards.

“They came out focused and played hard,” said Jones. “We caught them in some things we hadn’t done before. Our objective was to come out and compete. We just have to get better.”

But the Hawks responded on the ensuing kickoff, with Shaheed Warren going 85 yards for a touchdown. A pass from Patrick Hanlon to Diohnny Ruiz gave Hamburg (2-0) an 8-7 advantage and plenty of momentum.

Warren finished with 178 yards rushing and a 54-yard score in the first half. The Hawks also turned a 12-yard fumble recovery by Seamus Barter into a touchdown for a 22-7 halftime lead.

Two scores to start the third quarter — a one-yard rush by Hanlon and a 20-yard scamper by Mitchell Watt — gave Hamburg a 37-7 edge with 4:42 remaining.

“Hats off to Panther Valley, they came out with their skill kids and did a nice job of getting some things together,” said Hawks’ coach Chuck Kutz. “Once we settled in, it was nice to see that we were a little more well-rounded. We got a special teams score on the kickoff, we ended up with a defensive score, and then the offense settled in. It was a well-rounded victory, so we’ll take that.”

Hamburg controlled the game on the ground, rolling up 385 yards rushing one week after grinding out 305 in a 38-13 win over Halifax.

While Warren had another big night after rushing for 100 yards in the season opener, Tristan Baer also added 124 yards on the ground, including an 80-yard score to make it 49-14 in the fourth quarter.

Ruiz added 53 yards rushing and an 11-yard score in the fourth quarter for the Hawks.

Tremaine Ervine gained 61 yards on the ground in the second half for the Panthers. The freshman’s first carry of the night was a 21-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

Elias Tavares added 55 yards rushing.

“Everybody got to play, everybody’s getting reps, we’re just trying to find people,” said Jones. “With our schedule, we’re going to need guys to be able to play backup-wise down the road

“We did some decent things. They played hard, and that’s the key.”

I’LL TAKE THAT ... Shawn Hoben came up with two interceptions late in the first half for Panther Valley. Hoben stepped in front of a Hanlon pass as the Hawks looked to drive inside the Red Zone up 22-7 with under two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Hoben grabbed his second interception on Hamburg’s next drive to give the Panthers the ball with 28.1 seconds left before the intermission.

UP NEXT ... Panther Valley will try to bounce back next Friday at home against Jim Thorpe (2-0). The Hawks host Blue Mountain.