MINERSVILLE — One for the road could very well have been a good thing Friday evening for Panther Valley’s football team.

Its first-year coach Scott Price had the Panthers in a position to do something the program hasn’t done in a long, long time – make the playoffs!

What was riding on the outcome for the host team, as well, was a chance at a playoff berth.

What was needed by both sides was a little be of fortuitous luck, too. But what didn’t happen for the Panthers was a win, as they got dropped 35-8.

Minersville dominated with its running game and received one heck of a performance from Kenneth Yurkonis, a senior converted tight end, who polished off his final home game with 159 yards rushing on 24 carries. He also hit the end zone twice on runs of 28 and 1 yard.

Where the Panthers came up short was a failure to establish a ground game, even though the defense was more than just adequate at times – yes the defense was pretty steady – but not sustaining a run-attack was a killer.

“We needed a bit more running, and we didn’t have a particularly good night,” said Price. “Overall we didn’t do a bad job, had we been able to run it better I think it would have been interesting.”

Instead, Minersville ran, and ran and ran some more. It also passed it enough to keep the Panthers defense from stuffing the run game. And it was plain as daylight in the first Minersville offensive series.

The Miners ran off a nine-play drive, marching 64 yards and it ended when quarterback Gehrig Hossler, who was getting his first start at the helm, punched home the touchdown on a 2-yard run.

Hossler started the drive with a nifty 24-yard pass completion to Bryce Ellinger, then turned the ball over to Yurkonis and Jared Yoder to sustain the drive before Hossler’s touchdown run.

Meanwhile the Panthers tried every-which-way to kickstart the engine from a double wing, to an I-formation, but it resulted in four possessions of three-and-out, and a fumble on their fifth attempt. Minersville, on the other hand, pushed the numbers to 14-0 needing only a four-play, 35-yard drive to score another six points when Yurkonis zipped up the middle for a 28-yard touchdown run. The eventual winners scored with 1:55 to go before the respite using a five-play, 45-yard drive and Yurkonis did it from a yard away.

Minersville never skipped a beat and opened the third quarter scoring its fourth touchdown on a Yoder 5-yard run. The scoring drive was set up when Yurkonis sprinted 49 yards to the Panther 10. Then late in the same period, Minersville kicked in the running clock, after it strung together a 10-play 57-yard scoring drive. This time Hossler threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ellinger.

Before the final seconds clicked off, Panther Valley slipped in a score thanks to another new-look offense when Tristen Blasko, a converted tight end who played tackle before moving to quarterback, engineered a five-play, 19-yard drive which ended when Rene Figueroa raced around his left end for a 5-yard touchdown and Blasko added a two-point conversion.

“We made some great steps this year, even though our record (3-7) doesn’t show it,” said Price. “What we lacked was not talent at the skilled positions, we just need to get stronger.”

By the way, Minersville probably failed to make the playoffs as Catasauqua upset Northwestern.

SLOW START … Panther Valley was unable to generate an offense in the first half. PV had minus-seven yards rushing and only 18 passing yards.

BALANCED ATTACK … Minersville had a two-prong attack mainly because of Yurkonis and the threat of Hossler to pass. Hossler replaced starter Scott Schwalm ,who fractured his tibia last weekend in the win over Marian.

DID WE SAY PLAYOFFS … Both Panther Valley and Minersville will await news to hear if they qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs.