Welcome To The Jungle: Belle Vernon Area Leopards

Belle Vernon's Dorian Johnson

Nick Helsley pumped up for the game

Up next for The Panthers is the Belle Vernon Area Leopards. The Leopards are led by a Division-1 recruit, Dorian Johnson. Johnson, 6'6", weighs in at a whopping 290 pounds and is a force on both defense and offense. He already verbally committed to Penn State, but is reconsidering his decision. He has gotten offers from Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, West Virginia, Alabama, Notre Dame and many others. Other than Johnson, The Panthers have a good chance of beating the Leopards. The Leopards are a very sloppy team that makes a lot of mistakes, which The Panthers should easily capitalize on. Coming off the impressive win against Greensburg Salem, The Panthers looked like they couldn't make any mistakes and look to keep the train rolling this week.

The Panthers after another win

Dorian Johnson's Interview: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/high-school-football/blue-chip-chat-withdorian-johnson-belle-vernon-high-school-648910/
Dorian Johnson's Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcM_-OImF6Q

Impressive win for the Panthers against Greensburg

The Team after an impressive win

Quarterback Nico Lodovico talking
with Lineman  Nick Helsley

Sophomore Brett Zanotto

The Panthers played The Greensburg Salem Lions last week and couldn't be stopped. The Panthers shutout The Lions while putting up 44 points on the scoreboard. The Lions were held to a slim -10 yards of total offense.  During the rout, The Panthers had everyone score. Paul Emanuele led the way after sohpomore Brett Zanotto broke his ankle during the second quarter. Also scoring was Matt Yurko, Charan Singh, Dom Matarazzo, Brett Zanotto and Dom Giannangeli. Luke Fleck also made his season debut and it looked like he didn't miss a beat. The Panthers looked like they couldn't be stopped, scoring their first touchdown within the first 3 minutes of the game. They never looked back from there and scored 35 points in the first half. The Panthers look to continue their success this upcoming week with another tough opponent in Belle Vernon.

Sahara Desert Expedition: Greensburg Salem Lions

Coach rallying the troops

Senior Luke Fleck looks to make his return this week

Nick Vento with a strong runThe Franklin Regional Football Panthers have yet another hard challenge this week, dealing with the Lions of   Greensburg Salem. The Lions are 1-2 with tough loses to Holidaysburg and Knoch, yet there record does not show what kind of football team they are. The Lions are a very physical team, yet they lack athleticism at some of skill positions. The Panthers expect a lot of play by The Lions freshmen quarterback and number 7 Denzell Jackson. The Panthers should look to continue their success this week much like they did last week against the Highlands Rams. The final score came out to be 35-3. The Rams came out and showed no weakness, marching the ball right down the field and kicking a field goal, but after that it was all The Panthers. For the second week in a row The Panthers had to overcome adversity because of Senior Leader Dane Brown being out. Picking up the slack was the dynamic trio of Nick Vento, Brett Zanotto and Paul Emanuele. Dane Brown should look to return next week against the Leopards of Belle Vernon, meanwhile Senior Center Luke Fleck looks to make a return this week against the Lions. The Panthers showed many highlights, which include the offense line and kicker Brent Velasquez, but they still have not peaked at how great they can become and with Luke Fleck coming back , The Panthers look to keep the train moving at high speed and have no let up.

Next Up The Golden Rams Of Highlands

Coach Botta talking to the team after the win

Carter Henderson(Left) and Nico Lodvico (Right)

Dane Brown after suffering an ankle injury 

Coming off an impressive win, The Panthers look to continue their success against The Golden Rams of Highlands High School. The Panthers took it to Indiana last week scoring 35 points and allowing 0. Senior quarterback Nico Lodovico threw for an impressive 279 yards and two touchdowns. On the receiving end of the passing attack were Charan Singh with 75 yards receiving and Colin Jonov with 179 yards receiving. The Panthers overcame adversity right off the bat with their running back, Dane Brown, going down early with an ankle injury. Picking up the slack, after Dane went out was Senior Nick Vento and Sophomore Brett Zannotto. The Panthers have another tough opponent this week facing the Highlands Golden Rams. The Rams are a very young team, featuring 15 freshmen and only 5 seniors. They run a very conventional offense like any other team and their defense is the same way. Highlands is highlighted by their Sophomore Quarterback, whom is a threat running more than he is passing. The Golden Rams are going to be a tough opponent if the panthers let them be a tough opponent and The Panthers look to keep the train on track without stopping for anybody.  

Calling of the Tribe: Indiana Indians

This week The Panthers of Franklin Regional have a another good test with the Indiana Indians. The Indiana Indians run a very tricky offense to defend, which is known as the triple option. The offense features a lot of motions of back and reading with the quarterback. This week of practice for The Panthers was a good one. Coach Botta was very pleased on the progress we made from last week to this week. This week the practices were very uptempo and a lot of conditioning was used as motivation from the loss of Mars. The Indians are highlighted by a division 1 center and their quarterback. The center gets off the ball well and will be a test for Jon Farbarik. The quarterback is a fast athletic quarterback but he lacks the arm of good quarterback. The biggest threat is their running game and their passing game is below average. The defense is also average as well. After a devastating loss to Mars, The Panthers look to get back on track this week with a win over Indiana and everything will sit a lot better in everyone's stomach next week.

The Panthers Found Life On Mars With a Tough Loss

It wasn't the best of weeks for the Franklin Regional Football Team last week. Suffering their first loss of the season to the Mars Fighting Planets. The Panthers coming into the game, ranked third in the state, thought that this game was going to be a good battle but could easily have been won. The game ended in a score of Mars 21 to Franklin 17 and the Panthers were distraught with the loss. The Panthers had some bright spots, even with the loss. Dane Brown carried the ball for 173 yards, Carter Henderson had 13 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and the new kicker Brent Velasquez nailed two extra points and kicked his first field goal. The offense and defense didn't look they missed a beat from last, even though we lost. 6 starters on both sides of the ball. The Panthers look to get the train back on track this week with a victory of The Indiana Indians.