Preview: Panther Valley Panthers vs. North Schuylkill Spartans
The Panther Valley Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the North Schuylkill Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Panther Valley is looking to tack on another W to their four-game streak on the road.
On Tuesday, Panther Valley came up short against Blue Mountain and fell 58-49. While losing is never fun, Panther Valley can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 366th, while Blue Mountain is ranked 86th).
Chase Weaver put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 16 points along with five assists and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Stephen Hood, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, North Schuylkill put the finishing touches on their fifth blowout victory of the season on Saturday. Everything went their way against Kutztown as North Schuylkill made off with a 71-50 victory. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory North Schuylkill has posted since December 21, 2023.
North Schuylkill relied on the efforts of Zane Zulkowski, who scored 28 points along with five rebounds and two steals, and Jack Keiter, who scored 21 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Zulkowski continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. jude maziekas was another key contributor, scoring six points.
Panther Valley's defeat dropped their record down to 10-6. As for North Schuylkill, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season.
Things could have been worse for Panther Valley, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 55-40 loss to North Schuylkill in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Zulkowski, who scored 18 points along with nine rebounds. Now that Panther Valley knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
