A year ago, Brody Breiner watched helplessly from the sidelines as his Panther Valley team was pummeled by Nativity, 60-0.

PV’s quarterback suffered a broken fibula the week before when a player drove his helmet into Breiner’s leg, thus ending his season after just four games.

Fast forward to this season, and Breiner — now a senior — is healthy again and leading the Panthers on and off the field.

So when Panther Valley faced the Green Wave six days ago, Breiner was calling plays in the huddle instead of wandering around the bench.

Needless to say, he made his presence known.

Breiner did damage with both his legs and his arm to help the Panthers gain a bit of revenge in claiming a 41-24 victory.

He ran the ball 21 times for 202 yards and three touchdowns, and completed 16-of-20 passes for 158 yards and a score. Defensively, he added four tackles, one for loss, deflected a pass and punted once for good measure.

That outstanding effort earned him the Times News Player of the Week.

“It feels great to be back just to play with your best friends for my last year of high school,” said Breiner. “It’s just amazing going every week to battle with your friends.

“That was the first week I was out last year (against Nativity). I was really frustrated. The only thing I could really do was help on the sidelines, help the backup quarterback with that game, so it was really nice to come back and get that win this year.”

Breiner got his team off to a good start, opening the game’s scoring with a TD run in the first quarter.

With his team holding a slim lead at halftime (20-16), Breiner extended the margin when he broke free for a 34-yard score, and later tossed a 16-yard scoring strike to Chase McArdle.

The senior capped his huge offensive showing with a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth to secure the team’s second consecutive win.

“The last two weeks we’ve started to run the ball amazing,” said Breiner, a three-sport athlete who committed to Ursinus for baseball. “We found our plays that were working the last two weeks. That felt great. The line was amazing. My fullbacks were blocking for me, and then that eventually opened the passing game, which was great.

“My receivers made great plays this week, too. It’s great to take shots whenever coach calls them. I have a lot of faith that my receivers are going to catch it because they’re a lot taller. I feel like it’s just easier for them to make more plays.”

PV head coach Mark Lavine was especially pleased that Breiner and his team were able to do damage both on the ground and through the air.

And he’s also pleased that his senior quarterback is healthy again.

“This is the first time we’ve been so two-dimensional,” said Lavine. “It was really nice ... We faced situations at the end of the game where they weren’t covering our pass, and normally we would have felt the need to run the ball because that’s who we are, but he slung it out there and completed passes at the end of the game. That’s huge, to make teams have to cover us on the outside and on the inside.

“Week 4 (is when he got hurt last year). I know it killed him, but he still came to all our practices ... but to lose six games of your junior year, I know it bummed him out and it really set us back because we just struggled (without him).”

Nowadays, the Panthers are rarely without their captain on the field. Breiner plays on offense, defense and special teams, and rarely gets a break.

Which is exactly how he likes it.

And despite all the playing time, Breiner’s effort never wanes.

“Coach tries to get me some breaks, but I want to be out there with my team everywhere I can,” said Breiner. “Whatever coach asks me to do, I’ll do.

“I enjoy contact. The coaches tell me to run out of bounds a lot, but I try to get more yards. I feel like I ran pretty hard last game. I feel like my yards after contact was pretty good last game.”

Like he said, Breiner isn’t afraid to get hit or dole out some punishment.

“He runs hard,” said Lavine. “He’s not a big guy in stature, but he’s a kid who lifts weight. He lifts hard. He squats, he deadlifts, he’s a strong kid ... He’s always been more mature than his grade.

“He’s not a kid you have to get on and coach him hard ... There’s been little things that we thought he could work on, and he’s taken them personally, like getting rid of the ball quicker or just little things like his technique that he works on hard at practice. And you can see the results on the field.”