Upper St. Clair Dominates Plum 46-8 to Advance to Quarterfinals

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Isaac Graves | November 1, 2025

Coming off an 8-2 regular season, the Upper St. Clair Panthers were ready to dominate in round one of the playoffs. The Plum Mustangs rounded off three straight victories to end the regular campaign at 5-5 and just snuck into the playoffs.

Plum started the game with possession but couldn’t get much going on offense. But that didn’t matter as, on one play into the Panthers’ opening drive, Mustangs Safety Niko Signor snagged it and took it to the house for a game-opening pick-six. The Mustangs lined up for the extra point, but the Panthers were called offside, which left the Mustangs to go for two points and get it.

The Panthers and Quarterback Ethan Hellmann were determined to build off of the offensive mistake, and they certainly did. After a long, sustained offensive drive, running back John Banbury capped it off to get the Panthers on the board, still down by one with the Mustangs going for a two-point attempt.

But that deficit did not last long, as the Mustangs fumbled in their own territory and the Panthers were in prime position to take the lead. And wide receiver Randy Yan did just that. The first quarter ended with the Panthers leading 14-8.

The Panthers started off the second quarter slow; their first drive of frame number two looked like it was going nowhere, until Jacobo Echeverria Lozano lined up to punt the ball and delivered a trick to treat the Panthers to a first down. That drive ended with no points put on the board, but the Panthers came back out, and John Banbury took it in for his second score of the half. The first half ended with the Panthers up 21-8.

The Mustangs looked fired up coming out for the second half, and they had the word comeback on their minds. Unfortunately, the Panthers shut down all hopes of a comeback rather quickly, as they opened up with possession and a 55-yard kickoff return to get it started. Their opening drive may not have left them with points, but the next drive, with a great setup to give running back Dante Coury an open lane to score. Coury scored twice in the third quarter to leave the Panthers up by 4 scores with the final frame still to come.

The Panthers still had the flashy plays in them, as defensive back Caffrey Duplessis came up with an interception and set up the Panthers, and running back Max Ligier for their sixth touchdown of the night. A two-point conversion on that score by Ligier and a field goal near the end left the Upper St. Clair Panthers walking away with a 46-8 victory, ending the Plum Mustangs’ 2025 season.

Plum finishes their season with a 5-6 record and a 0-1 playoff record. Upper St. Clair will be on the road next Friday to face the Woodland Hills Wolverines in the quarterfinals.

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