Panther Valley’s offensive backfield is young. On Friday night, they demonstrated that they’re maturing very quickly.

Three players — all underclassmen — scored rushing touchdowns. And a sophomore receiver had his most impressive game of the season.

Add an impenetrable defensive effort and it’s obvious why the Panthers won so easily over Greater Nanticoke Area, 35-0.

The Panthers didn’t start the game as the dominating team. But once the offense found its stride, there was no stopping them.

“As the game went on, we played with more and more confidence and kind of who we are — running the football and timely passing,” PV head coach Mark Lavine said.

Junior running back Troy Nunez lit the fuse for the Panthers, breaking a scoreless game early in the second period with a break-a-way 56-yard touchdown run.

Late in the quarter, PV made it 14-0 when sophomore Chase McArdle completed a 20-yard pass play from classmate quarterback Cy Maynard.

Maynard, who is a tough 6-3, 170-pound athlete, is playing his first year of varsity football. He contributed two rushing TDs, one on an 11-yard jaunt and the other from the 4-yard line.

McArdle had his most impressive game of the season. Besides the touchdown catch, he caught 3-of-4 passes tossed to him for 42 yards, made a leaping, key interception and had three great punt returns.

That interception was late in the second quarter and set up the second Panther score. It was McArdle’s touchdown reception which gave his team a 14-0 lead going into the break.

“We joked with him that he lost his moxie a little bit and he had to get it back,” said Lavine said of McArdle in reference to low-key games in previous weeks. “We know he’s one of the better receivers in this area and one of the better athletes in this area.”

The coach said that although McArdle hasn’t had great offensive games the past weeks, “I think he played just as well on the defensive side of the ball.”

Panther Valley was sluggish at the beginning of the game. In the first quarter, Nanticoke controlled the tempo. Panther Valley didn’t get a first down, was zero for two on pass attempts and had just 10 net rushing yards.

Fortunately, the defense of the Panthers (2-2) never caved.

In Nanticoke’s first drive, they got to the Panther 24 before they were stopped on downs. In the next drive, they made it to the PV 30.

Late in the second quarter, the Trojans came close to scoring. David Jackson caught a punt at the Nanticoke 10 and raced down field to the end zone. A pair of penalties on the play, including roughing the kicker, returned the ball to PV. Nanticoke never threatened again.

Joe Shimko, head coach for Nanticoke, said it was their plan to get a fast start against PV.

“We came out strong in the first half,” he said. “It exactly was our game plan. We knew they were physical up front.”

“And then in the second half, we couldn’t stop their wagon,” he said.

“We’re young,” Shimko added. “We have two seniors on offense and two seniors on defense. It’s something to build on. We’ve got to keep working on it.”

Lavine was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We had two straight losses and were not doing a whole lot on either side of the ball,” he said. “We had to fix ourselves this week and I think we had a really good week of practice. We still made some mistakes; a lot of offsides and first down penalties put us in holes today. Once we got on track and getting five yards on first down, we started to wear them down.

“Our entire offensive line and defensive line,” praised Lavine. “We pitched a shutout today, so the defensive line did a great job. We didn’t give up any big plays. The offensive line, once we stopped shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, we got our running game going.”

“Troy Nunez got a nice game at running back,” said Lavine. “He popped a couple of big ones. He had a little bit of a hamstring the last couple of weeks and he’s starting to run fresh again.”

“And Nate Rolon had a couple of big plays for us. It all starts with that offensive line.”

Offensively, Panther Valley had 191 yards net rushing compared to 63 for the Trojans. Passing, Nanticoke (1-3) had the edge, 59 yards to PV’s 42.

A HOMECOMING VICTORY ... It was homecoming week at Panther Valley, with the coronation of the king and queen occurring before the game. Madison Fisher, a freelance sports photographer for the Times News, was named homecoming queen. Brian Boretski won the honors of homecoming king.

PROUD OF HERITAGE ... The marching band of Nanticoke wore red miners hats with front lanterns, a tribute to the town’s anthracite history. Although the band is small with just nine instrumentalists, six flag twirlers and a drum major, it sounded very good and was greeted with warm applause by the large PV crowd.

A LONG ROAD TRIP NEXT ... Panther Valley has its longest road trip of the season next Friday night, traveling to Tunkhannock in Lackawanna County. Last week, Tunkhannock played Nanticoke, with the Trojans winning 14-12.

EXTRA POINTS ... It appears Panther Valley, for the first time in several years, has a dependable kicker for extra points. Sophomore Isa Gjoca, a soccer player, joined the team this year. He was perfect, making five of his five attempts.

GREAT ANNOUNCING - In case you wondered who’s behind the voice announcing the games at PV, it’s baseball coach Rich Evanko. He does a very professional job in the booth.

Panther Vy. 35, Nanticoke 0

Nanticoke 0 0 0 0 - 0

Panther Vy. 0 14 14 7 - 35

PV - Nunez 56 run (Gjoca kick).

PV - McArdle 20 pass from Maynard (Gjoca kick)

PV - Maynard 11 run (Gjoca kick).

PV - Rolon 10 run (Gjoca kick)

PV - Maynard 4 run (Gjoca kick)