Minersville rides Carr’s passing to deck Panther Valley
Panther Valley's Brennan Kunkel is brought down by Minersville's Matt Dube as Logan Rizzardi assists during Friday's game at Lansford. (Photo by Kelly Wiley)
LANSFORD – Minersville’s football team played swift and lethal Friday evening.
Obviously on a mission. On this the 10th and final regular-season game for both teams, the Miners have bigger things to look forward to after breezing to an impressive 43-0 victory over Panther Valley in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game at Panther Valley Stadium.
The win gives Minersville (7-3, 6-3 Blue) a Saturday night home game in the eight-team District 11 Class AA tournament, mostly likely against Executive Education. Panther Valley closes the 2024 season at 2-8.
Minersville dominated from the get-go. It turned to its leader, superb quarterback Dante Carr. In a New York City heartbeat, Carr lifted his team to back-to-back touchdown drives in building a 15-0 lead.
Carr completed the first of his eight passes, flipping a short toss to speedy junior Paiten LaPoint, who zip-lined his way to the Panther Valley 21. On Carr’s next toss, he found fellow junior Matt Dube in the back of the end zone on a perfectly thrown touchdown pass. Easton Schultz then ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.
The Panthers tried answering, using eight plays before turning the ball over on downs at their 47. Carr let things fly once again, finding LaPoint with a 52-yard pass to the Panthers’ 1 before Schultz cracked in for the second touchdown of the night. Jordan Bowers’ PAT made it 15-0.
Minersville coach Justin Frantz said it was planned to get Carr into the air attack.
“We wanted to work on (passing) because we’ve been harassing Carr (about his running),” Frantz said laughing, alluding to Carr’s 1,124 yards rushing heading into Friday’s game.
His passing stats aren’t shabby either, completing 80-of-142 passes for 1,536 yards with 20 touchdowns. Before the night was over, Carr added another touchdown pass, this one a 5-yard strike to senior wide receiver Logan Hutsko.
“Dante’s amazing, just a one-of-a-kind athlete,” said Hutsko, who had three catches for 37 yards. “Panther Valley always plays us hard. We’re finally hitting our stride going into the playoffs.”
Panther Valley coach Mark Lavine agreed with Hutsko’s statement.
“With how well he runs, it’s hard to contain him,” Lavine said. “He’s hard to get to, and when he scrabbles he throws it so well. A couple of balls he had thrown and he did it on the run.”
Hutsko extended the lead to 22-0 on Minersville’s first offensive series of the second quarter as the Miners marched 69 yards in seven plays. Hutsko caught a 24-yard completion to open the series, Schultz added a 5-yard run, then Carr raced to the 10 before adding five more yards. On the next play, Carr and Hutsko finished off the drive with 5-yard TD completion.
Panther Valley was chasing all night and when it did get the ball, it struggled to sustain drives. the Panthers also had a huge problem trying to block linebackers Owen Fortna and A.J. Halford.
“We needed a big win, going into the playoff,” said Halford, a senior.
Halford said keying on the guards led to his big night of helping to shutdown the Panther Valley running attack: “I read the guards, they take you to the play.”
Minersville added two more touchdowns before halftime. LaPoint returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown to make it 29-0.
Fortna said his team didn’t have such a great week of practice before snapping out of it on Wednesday.
“We were really slow in practice and we kind of underestimated these guys,” Fortna said. “But we picked it up and we needed to finish things strong.”
Minersville kicked in the running clock when Schutlz bolted 11 yards for a touchdown. He also added a 29-yard scamper in the drive. LaPoint and Carr hooked up for a 24-yard pass play in before Schultz ducked into the end zone.
Minersville set the final numbers thanks to Derek Derenzo, who blazed 60 yards on a quarterback run before Gavin Allan capped the 80-yard drive from 1 yard out.
“It’s been our story all year … we stall out on drives, whether it’s penalty or a (mistake),” Lavine said. “We thought we’d turn the corner this year, but we didn’t. We got to build the program, from junior high to JV. The weight room is where it all begins for next season.”
