It looked eerily familiar to Saucon Valley faithful.
The Panthers were cramping up on every other play in the second half of Friday night’s season opener at Bangor. They were making undisciplined mistakes and weren’t finishing drives.
“We were in a similar situation last year when we cramped up a lot against Notre Dame,” senior Jack Robertson said. “We were winning at half and lost the game.
“But I think we’re a completely different team this year.”
The biggest thing that was different Friday night was the Panthers found a way to take lessons and a victory from a game in which they didn’t play well.
Jared Rohn’s 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter was the game-winner, Robertson had two of Saucon Valley’s four interceptions and the defense made it stand up in a 16-7 victory at Bangor Memorial Park’s Paul Farnan Field.
“We did not play our best football,” Robertson added. “But we fought through adversity tonight. We came out with a win. That’s something we needed. That’s something we struggled with last year, fighting through adversity.”
Neither team scored in the second half in a battle in which the two defenses made all the plays.
Bangor also had cramping issues in the second half with its linemen and lost starting center Tyler Campbell midway through the second quarter with a left leg injury.
“Our inexperience reared its ugly head tonight,” first-year head coach Vinnie Andrews said. “Untimely penalties. I’m not going to fault [sophomore quarterback Jaxson Kreider] for those interceptions. That’s on me. I put a young kid in a situation where we have to throw because we couldn’t run the football.
“At the end of game, we had one lineman on the field with varsity experience. It essentially was my JV line. Those are things we can control. [Losing Campbell], he’s a big piece. He makes all our calls on the line.”
Saucon Valley built a two-score lead in the final seconds of the second quarter when Bangor snapped the ball over punter T.J. McLain’s head. He had to fall on it in the end zone for a safety.
The Panthers drove in the red zone to start the second half, but the Slaters came up with stops on third and fourth downs.
Bangor picked up three first downs but couldn’t sustain the drive.
Saucon Valley again drove deep into Bangor territory, but Tyler Scholato came up with a fourth-down stop to thwart the drive.
Isaiah McNally then intercepted a fourth-down pass in the end zone for the Panthers.
Joe Peterson and Caleb Grim combined to stop the Slaters on their next red-zone trip. Elijah Miller’s interception with 1:48 left was the last big play for coach Anthony Brinkley’s defense.
“It’s the biggest thing that we’ve talked about since camp,” Brinkley said. “We have to be fight our way through adversity. I can’t think of any bigger adversity than not having Jack Robertson and Jared Rohn for most of the second half.
“I’m really proud of our entire team for coming together.”
Rohn managed 106 rushing yards and one TD. Robertson caught three passes, including a 14-yard touchdown on a screen pass on third-and-goal from the Bangor 14, and had the two 1st-half interceptions.
But there were others who came up big in their absences. Andrew Gilbert had a big tackle for loss that helped stop Bangor’s first drive of the second half. First-year starting senior Isaiah Checo had several tackles. Joe Griffith also was a force on both sides of the line.
“We didn’t play at all how we wanted,” senior Elijahlee Torres said. “We played a really bad game. We were lucky to come out with the win. Our younger guys, when starters went down, they came in and really helped us out.
“The defense was huge. Without those four takeaways, who knows how the game could have gone. We could have been down 28-16. That’s great for us, the defense. That’s why we won.”
Kreider threw for 171 yards and rushed for a touchdown in his first varsity start for Bangor. Riley Waldron ran for 56 yards and was stellar on defense.
But the Slaters earn their keep by running the ball, and they managed only 81 yards.
“When you’re unable to run the ball, they are able to drop seven guys in coverage,” Andrews said, “it really puts you at a disadvantage. If we could have found that balance ….
“We were getting there early. Then Tyler [Campbell] went down. That really hurt, and we became one-dimensional.”
Both teams have a short work week. Bangor (0-1) visits Lehighton (0-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday. Saucon Valley (1-0) travels to rival Palisades (0-1) also Thursday at 7.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
SAUCON VALLEY 16, BANGOR 7
Saucon Valley: 6; 10; 0; 0 — 16
Bangor: 0; 7; 0; 0 — 7
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
SV: Braden Rohn 14 pass to Jack Robertson (kick blocked), 6:13
Second quarter
B: Jaxson Kreider 4 run (Jace LaBar kick), 10:36
SV: Jared Rohn 1 run (Robertson run), 7:51
SV: Bangor punter T.J. McLain tackled in end zone for safety, 0:16
TEAM STATISTICS
SV; Ban
First downs; 11; 16
Rushes-yards; 36-190; 30-81
Passing yards; 30; 171
Comp-Att-INTs; 6-15-1; 15-28-4
Punts-avg.; 4-31.5; 1-36.0
Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 0-0
Penalties-yards; 8-74; 5-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing : (Saucon Valley) Jared Rohn 18-106, TD; Andrew Gilbert 2-14; Shane Kerosetz 1-11; Jack Robertson 2-3; Braden Rohn 11-60; (Bangor) Riley Waldron 19-56; Jaxson Kreider 9-38; Alex Farensbach 1-4; team 1-(-17).
Passing : (Saucon Valley) B. Rohn 6-15-1, 30 yards, TD; (Bangor) Kreider 16-28-4, 182 yards.
Receiving : (Saucon Valley) Robertson 3-24, TD; Kerosetz 1-10; J. Rohn 1-(-4); (Bangor) Farensbach 5-55; Jacob Hillis 4-53; McLain 4-46; Kamal Crockett 2-14; Waldron 1-14.
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