Mike Pascoe gathered a group of his teammates.

“Shoutout to the line, they were great up front,” beamed the Panther Valley senior.

When Pascoe recently received his Times News Football Player of the Week award, he made sure to show that it was a team effort.

“It feels great. It’s definitely great momentum getting our second win and moving to .500 on the year. But that trophy, that means everything to me and the line,” said Pascoe, who was flanked by several of his teammates for a photo with the plaque. “I definitely could not have done anything without them. They’re a big part of this team, and our run game is a big part of our game, so once we get going and the big men get moving up front, it gets us going.”

Pascoe and the Panthers steamrolled Shenandoah Valley 33-8 last Thursday, with the senior signal caller spearheading a ground game that rolled up 343 yards.

Panther Valley pulled away in the second half with four touchdowns, as Pascoe finished with 195 yards on 20 carries and one score. He also tossed two touchdown passes - one to Mergim Bushati for 10 yards, and another for 50 yards to Trey McAndrew.

“It’s definitely huge,” said Pascoe. “We missed a few opportunities in the first half. But coming out in the second half and getting a score and then getting that momentum and wearing teams down with our run game, it definitely is great. And then we got another touchdown and a few stops; it definitely gives us some great momentum going into this week and the games to come.”

Pascoe is the Panthers’ leading rusher with 93 carries for 540 yards and four touchdowns. His rushing totals rank first in the area.

The senior pointed to the efforts of Austin Hadley at fullback, Eli Maynard at center, Brad Jones and Marco Tessitore at guard, Jeremy Phelps and Riley Hoben at tackle and Michael Williams for setting the tone up front.

“I love running the football,” Pascoe said with a smile. “It makes it great because our line is great, so when we get a push and I get to run downhill, I get to go full speed and become physical with it. It’s amazing. To me, there’s not a better feeling in the world.”

Pascoe has come up big in some clutch situations for Panther Valley this season, and last Thursday was no different.

“It’s huge. The thing with Michael too is he’s very smart,” said first-year Panthers’ coach Mark Lavine. “We don’t have to tell him things twice. He understands game situations, sometimes too much. Sometimes he overthinks and tries to anticipate and we tell him to just let the game come to you. But it helps. And him being a big kid at 230 pounds is great with short yardage to be able to get those first downs in those situations. He wants the ball in his hands.

“That goes all the way back to Salisbury (a 20-13 win in Week 1). Against Salisbury, the final (drive) we needed one more first down and it was a one-possession game, and on fourth-and-three we gave him the ball, and he’s a big kid, he was able to drive the pile and get that final first down to help us finish off the game. So it’s huge, it’s absolutely huge.”

And Pascoe will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

“What’s nice about him, too, is that he gets a lot of yards after contact,” said Lavine. “He’s not going to fall down right on the first contact, and that’s big. Defensive backs in this league aren’t the biggest kids, and when you have defensive backs tackling you play after play during a game, sometimes you break those later on.

“But he is a team player, he really is. He’s not a selfish player. If it was fourth-and-one and we had to give it to Austin (Hadley), he’d be fine giving it to Austin. He’s not a selfish kid at all. So all those things come into play, and it’s nice that he’s a three-year starter. He’s a veteran, he’s got a lot of starts underneath his belt, so the situation is not too big for him, either. He’s not scared of the situation.”

That sort of selflessness and leadership was seen when Pascoe received his award.

And it’s part of the character that’s present throughout the Panthers’ program, something that has laid the foundation for success.

“We wanted our identity to be to run the ball, and control the clock and get first downs,” said Lavine. “We’re not an explosive team, and we’re not going to break one for 75 yards; we have to grind it out for first downs and control the clock and play defense. We want that to be our mentality, and when you have a mentality, I really think the kids see it. The kids know what run plays are going to work, they see what they’re giving us, and they’re making suggestions to us during the game. And once you develop an identity, you just keep getting better at it and you hope that as we get better, we start to maybe get a win that maybe people didn’t anticipate us getting. Hopefully that’s down the road.”