Penn Cambria Survives in Thriller Against Forest Hills

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Baron Dionis | September 7, 2024

The Penn Cambria Panthers improved to 3-0 with a thrilling 30-22 victory over the Forest Hills Rangers. The Panthers ran the ball all night on Forest Hills. Penn Cambria running backs accounted for over 300 yards tonight on the ground including 111 rushing yards from Gavin Harrold, 95 from Mason Mento, and 94 from Thomas Plunkett. This victory, led by the run game, displayed what Coach Felus calls Mountain Mentality.

On the win tonight, Head Coach Nick Felus said, “It was a total team effort, a lot of guys made plays when we needed them to make plays. We talk about the Mountain Mentality, you saw it tonight. We played to the whistle, played every play, overcoming adversity. You put that all into this game. We are built for this. We’ve been in games like this for the last five years and this group is very resilient with the work that they’ve put in and we are very proud of them. Our atmosphere, our community was unbelievable.”

Gavin Harrold tonight led the team in rushing, but he did more than just run the football. He caught a 34 yard pass, threw for a two point conversion, and caught an interception late in the fourth quarter. He is a big time player for the Panthers who made a difference tonight in the win.

Coach Felus said, “What can you say about Gavin. He’s a stud. When the ball is in his hands, he makes plays. He doubted himself after the kickoff return, but great players understand next play up. He helped us close this game.”

Forest Hills took a very tough defeat tonight, but played a very close game. Coach Felus had lot’s of great things to say about the Rangers program.

The Rangers issue tonight was committing too many penalties. That gave Penn Cambria lot’s of good field position and aside from not being able to stop the run, it was a big factor as to why they couldn’t win this game. Nate Cornell finished with 147 passing yards and two passing touchdowns tonight, but a key interception in the red zone was a difference maker from adding on to their 22 points. Chase Williamson and Austin Pramuk both caught touchdowns. Xander Richardson ran for a big 58 yard touchdown and had an interception, but got injured tonight.

Head Coach Justin Myers said, “I believe we played hard, we showed emotion, they played aggressive, and they came fired up. We took a good team to the end and it will help to build a better season down the road. We need to cut down on some penalties. I’m not happy with the penalties, but I am happy with how much energy our guys played with tonight.”

This game came to the end, but Penn Cambria was able to win it. The Panthers defense had two interceptions and a safety. They are looking like a very strong team, but they also lost VMI commit, Derek Hite, to an injury. His status is unknown.

Next week, Penn Cambria will face off against 3-0 Bedford on the road. Forest Hills will host 2-1 Chestnut Ridge.

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