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Saucon Valley finds some seams, digs deep to capture Victory over visiting Bangor

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| August 23, 2025

Hellertown-

Panther quarterback Braden Rohn leads the way through the air and on the ground in a decisive victory for Saucon Valley in their season opener against Bangor.

 

In a season opener that had the Panthers looking for revenge after coming up short against the Slaters  the past few years, Saucon left little doubt at the final whistle.  Bangor won the coin toss and chose to defer. Saucon took the ball and with that, marched right down the field looking to open the scoring early.  However, Bangor had other ideas as the Slaters’ Jon-Erik Ingram stepped in front of a Braden Rohm pass and halted a Panther drive that was threatening deep in Bangor territory.

The Slaters were unable to do anything with this gift and went 3 and out on their ensuing drive.  After the punt, the Panthers wasted little time as Braden Rohn would use a little misdirection and find room around the right side and take it 25 yards to the house to open the scoring for the evening.  With 6:46 left in the opening quarter, Saucon took the lead 7-0.

The ensuing kickoff would result in great field position for Bangor as the return brought the ball all the way out to the Slaters’ 40 yard line to start their next offensive series.  Bangor, keeping the ball strictly on the ground, methodically drove down the field only to have disaster strike.  Quarterback Eziah Cartagena was stripped of the ball just inside the 1 yard-line.  The ball bounced in to the end-zone where the Panthers’ Elijah Szlachtianshyn pounced on it for a touchback.

The Saucon offense took the field looking to take advantage of this massive turn in momentum, but the Slater defense was up to the task and forced a quick punt from the Panthers.  Bangor however would quickly hand the ball right back to the Panthers as Eli Szlachtianshyn would be “Mr. Johnny-on-the-spot” once again and pick of an errant Slater pass and return it in to Slater territory.

The Panthers would not be denied on this posession as Braden Rohn found freshman Thomas Cahill on back to back passes to move the Saucon offense deep in to Bangor territory. Another freshman, Taylor Rohn would cash in a few plays later for the Panther score.


This concluded the scoring for the opening quarter.  The start of the 2nd quarter would be some more of the same for Bangor as they were unable to get anything going on offense and once again would need to punt the ball back to the Panthers who would end up pinned deep in their own end at the 12.  A 9 yard loss on the opening play of the drive by Braden Rohn would give the Panthers 2nd and 19 at their own 3 yardline.  From what it looked like, Rohn had the Slater defense right where he wanted them as on 2nd down he threw an absolute dot to wideout Thomas Cahill for a gain of 36 yards and got the Panther offense out of the shadow of their own goal posts. A few plays later, Panther quarterback Braden Rohn would go on one epic journey around the field for a thrilling 40 yard touchdown to push Saucon’s lead to 21 – 0 with 7:22 left in the half.

Bangor still would have no answer for the Panther’s defense as they quickly were forced to punt again, this time from very deep in their own territory.  The punt would be downed by the Panthers at the Slater 27.  Only a few plays later, Panther running back Eli Szlachtianshyn would find an opening around the left side and take it to the house from 20 yards out to stretch the Panther lead to 28-0 with just under 5 minutes left in the opening half.

Clawing back, Bangor would strike quickly as their speedy wideout Kamal Crockett took the ensuing kick to the house to breathe some life in to this Slater team.

The next drive for the Panthers would see a long 62 yard touchdown run by Rohn brought back on a holding call.  Saucon couldn’t overcome the penalty and was forced to punt the ball away a few plays later.  With new energy, the Bangor offense took the field and on the back, and legs, of quarterback Eziah Cartagena the Slaters would cut the Panther lead to 2 scores as the quarterback found a huge hole right in the middle of the Panther line on 4th down from the 1 yardline.

To start the 2nd half, both defenses slugged it out and kept both teams off the scoreboard for the entirety of the quarter. The Panthers offense came to life again in the 4th quarter as Braden Rohn found the end-zone on a draw right up the middle on 4th down from 2 yards out to put Saucon up 35-14.

The final stanza then saw the Panther qb find Thomas Cahill at the 1 and sneak just inside the pylon for the score bringing the score to 42-14 in favor of the Panthers.

Refusing to go silently in to the night, the Slater offense struck one last time with 3:58 remaining from 30 yards out on what was Jude Martin’s first and only carry of the ball game. This cut the lead to 42-21 in favor of the Panthers.

The Saucon offense ran out the rest of the clock and secured the victory for the Panthers who start off their 2025 season 1-0 and will host Palisades next week at home  who are also fresh off an opening night victory over Bristol 21-15.  Bangor will look to rebound at home as they take on Lehighton who were handed an opening week loss by Northern Lehigh 41-26.

STATISTICS

Rushing:

(Bangor) Eziah Cartagena 10-45, TD; Riley Waldron 13-80; Lucas Hurd 4-41; Jude Martin 1-30, TD;

(Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 21-168, 3 TDs; Taylor Rohn 6-54, TD; Eli Szlachtianshyn 7-56, TD; Mason Kares 1-0; Ashton Beckowski 4-16; Zak Ziegler 1-2.

Passing:

(Bangor) Cartagena 9-16-2, 93 yards

(Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 12-21-1, 161 yards TD; Mickie McClarin 0-1-0.

Receiving:

(Bangor) Jacob Hillis 2-54; Hurd 2-18; Waldron 2-7; Jon-Erik Ingram 1-13; Kamal Crockett 1-0; Ayden Fassl 1-1

(Saucon Valley) Thomas Cahill 6-84, TD; Kares 2-14; McClarin 3-53; Isaiah McNally 1-10

 

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