Penn Cambria’s Mason Mento fights through a tackle attempt by Philipsburg-Osceola’s Lucas Peterson.
Photo for the Mirror by Roger Kerekes
CRESSON — During the first defensive drive of the game, Penn Cambria was struggling to control the Philipsburg-Osceola offense.
The Mounties drove the ball to the Panther 11-yard line in a matter of six plays.
Senior Carter McDermott came to the rescue and he ended up turning on the after burners as he jumped a route and took it to the house for an 89-yard interception return.
That helped set off a 21-point first quarter for the Panthers and the defense made it stand as they went on to pound the Mounties, 34-6, in their home opener at the Penn Cambria Athletic Field.
“Our defensive staff did a great job all week putting him in position, and he did exactly what he is coached to do,” Penn Cambria coach Nick Felus said. “He made a play, and you see how explosive he is.”
Play of the game: McDermott’s pick-6 set off a 21-point explosion in the first quarter for the Panthers.
Player of the game: Gavin Harrold recorded 100 yards on eight catches with a touchdown to help power the Panther offensive efforts. He also recorded an interception on defense.
You Shall Not Rush: The Panther defense held the Mounties to minus-19 rushing yards on 32 carries. They also recorded three turnovers.
Most intriguing statistics: Even in the blowout, Penn Cambria recorded only 12 first downs to the Mounties’ 10, and P-O outgained the Panthers through the air 139-132.
Felus: “Offensively, we got off to a slow start, we wanted to force the tempo a little bit, but that happens. Our defense picked us up. Toward the end of the first half, I didn’t like that offensive drive, I thought we should’ve been able to put the game away then. Halftime, our guys understand where we are in our program now, that’s not acceptable.”
Philipsburg-Osceola coach Jeff Vroman: “The route wasn’t as crisp as we normally would run that. (McDermott) made a nice play. We had some momentum there. That was a huge turning point. After about the first quarter, they didn’t really move the ball much. When you’re playing a short field, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing. If you have only 40 yards to go, that’s tough to defend each and every series. There were many times in the football game our defense did what we wanted them to do. I don’t know how times we were (in the red zone), we couldn’t punch it in.”
McDermott on the interception: “Watching all of this film, I know they like to run that flood concept to the outside. I read it, and I made the play.”
Notable: Penn Cambria recognized members of their youth flag football and tackle football programs during the pregame. … Philipsburg-Osceola set Penn Cambria up with a short field on six drives and the Panthers scored on four of them. … The Panthers were penalized six times for 75 yards and P-O racked up 3-for-30.
Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (1-0); Penn Cambria (0-1)
Next week: Philipsburg-Osceola travels to Clearfield, while Penn Cambria heads to Forest Hills next Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Philipsburg-Osceola 0 3 0 0 – 3
Penn Cambria 21 7 0 6 – 34
First Quarter
PC–McDermott 89 interception return (Dillion kick), 6:57.
PC–Harrold 32 pass from Jones (Dillion kick), 3:59.
PC–Plunkett 15 run (Dillion kick), 2:24.
Second Quarter
PC–Jones 6 run (Dillion kick), 10:03.
PO–Long 30 FG, :45.
Fourth Quarter
PC–Jones 3 run (kick failed), 10:17.
TEAM STATISTICS PO PC
First downs 10 12
Total yards 120 239
Rushes-yards 32-(-19) 25-107
Yards passing 139 132
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 15-23-2 13-15-0
Punts-avg. 7-30.5 3-33.6
Fumbles-lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 3-30 6-75
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Philipsburg-Osceola, Myers 8-(-43), McDonald 4-14, Jones 5-(-1), TEAM 1-(-1), Barger 4-9, Matier 1-2. Penn Cambria, Plazek 2-8, Nadolsky 1-3, Mento 5-35, Lilly 1-29, Plunkett 10-27, Jones 5-8, TEAM 1-(-3).
PASSING–Philipsburg-Osceola, Myers 6-9-1-63. Penn Cambria, Jones 13-15-0-108.
RECEIVING–Philipsburg-Osceola, Phillips 1-5, Barger 3-25, Peterson 1-29, Johnson 4-37, Matier 3-28, Jones 2-4, McDonald 1-10. Penn Cambria, Harrold 8-100, McDermott 5-32.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
