York, PA - Early in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Dallastown High School football team put together an 80-yard scoring drive in just over a minute.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Robert Catchings' 16-yard touchdown run represented their only score on the night as Penn Manor dumped Dallastown to 0-3 on the season with a 24-7 win.

"We have to execute. We did not play our best football game tonight," Wildcat coach Kevin Myers said. "Penn Manor came in with a nice game plan, and they executed it."

Penn Manor had the ball 11 times, including a one-play drive to end the first half, and gained first downs on nine of those possessions.

The visitors broke the ice on the first play of the

Penn Manor quarterback Adam Sahd (1) runs for yardage against Dallastown Friday night at Dallastown. The Comets defeated the Wildcats, 24-7. (For the Daily Record/Sunday News -- Mike Zortman)
second quarter when Charlie Bell ran for a 17-yard touchdown. Comet quarterback Adam Sahd had three big pass completions on the drive, twice finding 6-foot-3 junior Brett Caggiano in seams in the Dallastown secondary.

Penn Manor extended the lead on a 31-yard field goal by Mike Svanidze almost four minutes later after a Dallastown fumble -- the only turnover of the game -- gave the visitors a short field.

The Wildcat defense limited the Comets to three points there, and the offense started the third quarter strong. Running back Alpha Khan slashed through the Penn Manor defense and quarterback Andrew Henry completed a few key passes to get Dallastown to the Penn Manor 32-yard-line.

But the optimism soon faded as back-to-back holding penalties pushed the Wildcats back past midfield. A Penn Manor pass interference penalty bailed out Dallastown, but the offense lost momentum and turned the ball over on downs.

"Our biggest problem the last three weeks has been shooting ourselves in the foot offensively," Myers said. "We have to look at ourselves as coaches. What do we have to do to fix it? It's from top to bottom."

Penn Manor responded with a 79-yard scoring drive, the last 50 covered by sophomore running back Tyler Spangler on seven carries.

The ensuing kickoff bounced off a Dallastown player, and Penn Manor recovered. Thirteen plays later, Sahd hit Bell for a 2-yard score. Catchings helped Dallastown respond, but they couldn't get any closer than 17 points.

Myers said he and his team can't use any bad breaks in the game as an excuse. He lauded the effort of his team and agreed that next week's against Dover might provide a clean slate.

"We're coming into the meat of our schedule with the league, and we can get some things done, but we have to execute and we can't go backwards on offense," he said.

 

Penn Manor  0  10    7    7 -- 24
Dallastown  0    0    0    7 --   7

Second Quarter
   PM -- Charlie Bell 17 run (Mike Svanidze kick), 11:54
   PM -- Svanidze 31 FG, 8:09
Third Quarter
   PM -- Tyler Spangler 9 run (Svanidze kick), 4:11
Fourth Quarter
   PM -- Bell 2 pass from Adam Sahd (Svanidze kick), 10:15
   Dt -- Robert Catchings 16 run (Josh Chronister kick), 9:08
 
-- PM -- Dt
First downs -- 21 -- 8
Rushes-yards -- 47-151 -- 24-66
Passing -- 16-20-0 -- 6-14-0
Passing yards -- 162 -- 76
Total yards -- 313 -- 142
Punts -- 4-31.8 -- 4-40.0
Fumbles-lost -- 0-0 -- 3-1
Penalties-yards -- 4-40 -- 4-40

 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- Penn Manor, Tyler Spangler 18-79, Brandon Stone 17-58, Charlie Bell 1-17, Adam Sahd 7-4, Levonta Jones 1-0, Logan Kinser 1-(-3), Ashton Leschke 2-(-4); Dallastown, Alpha Khan 7-40, Robert Catchings 8-20, Andrew Henry 8-3, Keith Matthews 1-3.
   Passing -- Penn Manor, Adam Sahd 16-20-0-162; Dallastown, Andrew Henry 6-14-0-76.
   Receiving -- Penn Manor, Brett Caggiano 5-68, Logan Kinser 3-31, Daulton Parmer 3-27, Tyler Spangler 1-21, Adam Hess 1-9, Ashton Leschke 1-3, Charlie Bell 1-2, Adrian Viruet 1-1; Dallastown, Malik Lewis 2-34, Josh Chronister 2-10, Chandler Green 1-32, Robert Catchings 1-0.