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Notre Dame Green Pond roars back to claim victory over Saucon Valley in season opener

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| August 26, 2023

Easton, PA – A Tale of two halves

In what was the debut for new Saucon Valley head coach Anthony Brinkley, the Panthers came out swinging.  Following a fumble by Notre Dame running back Christian Rivituso which was pounced on by Panthers junior linebacker Andrew Gilbert at the Panther 26.  The Panthers, led by junior quarterback  Peter Albano, marched right down the field to take the lead early in the first quarter.  The scoring drive was capped off by a perfect lob by Albano to leaping junior wide receiver Jack Robertson in the corner of the end-zone to put the Panthers on top 7-0.

A short kickoff by the Panthers had senior quarter back Danny Darno and the Crusaders starting their own 45 yard line.  The Crusader offense made quick work of the Panther defense and easily moved the ball down the field and capped their scoring drive with a touchdown scored by Jaysen Blacknall-Farmer on an 8 yard sweep.  On the ensuing kickoff the kick was muffed and jumped on by Saucon Valley at their own 8 yard line.  On the first play of the ensuing drive the snap popped over Panther quarterback Albano’s head who scooped up the ball in his own end-zone only to be sacked for a safety by Crusader defensive end John Paul Pierce now giving Notre Dame a 9-7 lead almost half way through the first quarter.  The Crusaders would add to their lead on their next drive via a 34 yard field goal by Sophmore kicker Faustie Capobianco which increased the Notre Dame lead to 12-7 with just over 4 minutes left to play in the first quarter.  That would remain the score for the remainder of the first quarter.

Early in the 2nd quarter the Panthers convert a timely 4th and 1 thanks to some hard running by Senior running back Landon Beckowski to keep the Panthers offense on the field and more importantly, the potent Crusader offense on the sideline.  Landon would cap off this Saucon Valley drive with a 25 yard touchdown run on 4th and 3 to put the Panthers back on top of NDGP 14-12 with just over 9 minutes left in the half.  Both defenses would play lights out the remainder of the half with Saucon Valley’s Andrew Gilbert intercepting Notre Dame quarterback Danny Darno at the Saucon 37 with 1:12 left in the 2nd quarter, putting a stop to a bruising rushing performance on the drive by Darno who ended the half 7-6 for 76 yards and 1 INT with 56 rushing yards on 9 carries.  Saucon Valley’s took the field and wasted no time as a 66 yard half-back pass by Junior running back  Jared Rohn  to Senior receiver Braden Weiss took the Panthers all the way down to the NDGP 2 yard line with just under a minute left in the half.  The Panthers, without any timeouts left, were stonewalled at the goal line three straight times by the Notre Dame as the clock ran out on the first half.

The third quarter started off with more turnover troubles for the Crusaders as Darno was once again intercepted by the Panthers.  Saucon Valley  Junior DB Josiah Hernandez intercepted Darno and returned the ball 47 yards to the Notre Dame 32 yard line.  It only took the Panther offense 4 plays to capitalize on this turnover as quarterback Peter Albano found Jack Robertson again for his 2nd touchdown of the young season.  The following 2-point conversion was intercepted by the Crusader defense which left the score at 20-12 in favor of the Panthers with just under 5 and a half minutes to play in the 3rd quarter.  The ensuing drive for the Crusaders made quick work of the Saucon Valley defense with Darno leading his offense down the field in 4 plays highlighted by a 21 yard reception by AJ Lozano and then a 30 yard rush by Darno for a Touchdown.  The 2 point try was successful with Senior Josh Ludlow running it in to tie the game at 20 with just under 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

The following possession saw the Panther offense sputter and go 3 and out.  On 4th down the Panthers punt was returned  52 yards for a touch down by Ludlow putting the Crusaders on top for good.  This would seemingly signal the beginning of the end for the Panthers.  Seemingly decimated by cramping issues on both sides of the ball the Crusaders would have their way the rest of the night.  The rest of the evening Saucon Valley could not get anything going on offense and were unable to stop the high powered Crusader offense.  The following drive would see Albano intercepted by Ludlow of Notre Dame.  Darno would waste no time and took the first play of the drive to the house with a 35 yard touchdown jaunt down the Saucon Valley sideline putting Notre Dame up 34-20 with 21 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

The final quarter was dominated by the Crusader defense which didn’t let Saucon get anything going on the ground or in the air.  Darno added to the Crusader lead with a 5 yard touchdown run with just over 9 minutes left in the game and then closed out the game with a 68 yard strike to AJ Lozano to end the scoring for the evening’s contest putting the final score at 48-20 in favor of Notre Dame.

The win for the Crusaders gets them off to a 1-0 start on the season and the loss drops Saucon Valley to 0-1 to start their 2023 campaign.  Next week, Notre Dame travels to Southern Lehigh to take on the 1-0 Spartans who took down the Quakertown Panthers 28-21 this week while Saucon Valley will travel to Salisbury for a Colonial League match-up with the Falcons who lost their 2023 season opener 20-12 to Panther Valley in Lansford, PA.

 

 

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