River Valley Rides The Leg of Cole Heckathorn to Hold Off United-Valley

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Baron Dionis | September 27, 2025

The River Valley Panthers took down United Valley 10-7 courtesy of a clutch 40 yard field goal from Cole Heckathorn at Thomas Madill Field.

A big defensive showdown ended with just two touchdowns and a field goal from two strong programs in the Heritage Conference. United dominated the first half defensively, but could not punch it in. The two teams battled in the second frame, coming down to the wire in this tight ball game.

On the first two drives of the game, the two teams exchanged stops on fourth down around midfield. The next United drive ended in a punt, courtesy of a big sack from River Valley lineman Michael Wano.

United forced another punt and their offense was finally starting to click. They ate up six minutes and used 15 plays to get into the red zone, but River Valley’s defense held strong, getting a big fourth down stop from their own five.

United-Valley got the ball back and quarterback Lukas Kishlock moved the Lions down the field, setting them up in the red zone again.

The Panthers got the Lions to fourth down from their own six and a false start set up the 28 yard field goal try. The attempt was no good, ending the half tied. That marked the second drive this half stopped inside the 10.

“That’s the stuff we’ve got to capitalize on,” United-Valley Head Coach Lou Mcelwee commented. “If we capitalize there, the outcome might be a little different.”

Following halftime, River Valley got the kickoff with just 38 offensive yards. That narrative completely switched as the Panthers’ quarterback Max Persichetti and Jake Woodring both put together a great drive to break the scoreless tie.

Across midfield on fourth down, Persichetti connected with Woodring for a 22 yard first down. On the next play, Persichetti ran it in the end zone from 10 yards out.

The Lions answered with a long drive of their own, helped out by multiple penalties in the secondary from River Valley. After multiple big runs from Oleska, quarterback Dmitri Worthington connected with receiver Ethan Luko for a 10 yard touchdown to tie the game.

River Valley responded with another long drive, taking up over six minutes. This came from consistent positive plays from their flexbone offense that just battled and won up front from the line of scrimmage.

Putting them into solid field position, United-Valley got a sack on a third and medium by Brayden Butler, putting River Valley at the 23 yard line on fourth and long.

River Valley trusted their senior kicker Heckathorn in this tie game in the final minutes and he drilled it from 40 yards out, giving the Panthers a 10-7 lead.

“Honestly I was lobotomised,” River Valley kicker Cole Heckathorn recalled. “The second I stepped on that field I just popped away because the easiest way to kick is just to let my body go autonomously. I want to do it again and again. That made me very happy and I’m ready to do it again.”

Heckathorn has been a staple to the Panthers success this season, recently hitting a program record.

“He’s really good,” River Valley Head Coach Ed Dalton said. “That’s his seventh field goal of the year. He broke the school record last week with a 47 yarder.”

United got the ball back and gained just three yards before punting it back with about 4:30 remaining. The tough decision to punt inside the 30 yard line ended costly as River Valley picked up a clutch first down grab from Woodring before running the clock all the way down.

“We had three timeouts left,” Coach Mcelwee explained. “I thought they were going to try to run the ball to get us and use our timeouts. They did up until that third down and we told the boys they may throw it. We were prepared, but we played a little deep. We needed to be up a little bit.”

United Valley (3-3) moves on to host West Shamokin at Lloyd McMullen Memorial Field. River Valley (5-1) travels to Purchase Line.

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