Niko Carestia, Schuylkill Haven (Photo by First Class School Imaging)

LANSFORD — Things went pretty much as expected in Friday night’s Schuylkill-Colonial Blue Division game between Schuylkill Haven and Panther Valley.

Haven, regarded as one of the most powerful Class AA teams in the state and ranked No. 1 by PennLive.com, cruised to a 54-0 win over Panther Valley, a team still struggling to find itself.

The Hurricanes scored all six times they had the ball in the first half, taking a 48-0 lead into the dressing room.

Panther Valley head coach Mark Lavine concurred that it wasn’t just the mercy rule that kept the score from being even more staggering, but also the mercy shown by Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr.

Farr allowed the Panthers to receive the kickoff in both halves, although the Hurricanes could have taken the second half boot. He also played his second unit for the second half.

“Mike took care of us today by kicking off both halves,” Lavine said. “They could have put any number they wanted to on the board.”

Instead, the Panthers controlled the whole third quarter with the Hurricanes not having a single offensive play.

“They are the real deal,” Lavine said of the Hurricanes. “I said that at halftime. We knew their team, we knew they are physical, we knew their running backs and as a team their speed is impressive. When they blitzed, they had a different speed on their blitz.”

Farr said two of his running backs have multiple NCAA Division I college offers, while quarterback Max Heim is being pursued by several Ivy League schools. Two linemen have offers from NCAA Division II college schools.

“Panther Valley is only a couple players away,” Farr said. “Mark will get it there. He’s got some good kids. They just got to put it all together.”

Niko Carestia, one of the boys with Division I offers for Haven, scored the first two touchdowns. He carried the ball six times in the first half for 78 total yards.

Niko Castillo then added touchdown runs of 32 and 29 yards, Heim plunged in from 1 yard out and Blake Rossi hauled in a 22-yard TD pass from Heim. Logan Goad scored Haven’s final touchdown in the second half on a 9-yard run.

Haven had 14 first downs in the first half to PV’s two. The Hurricanes also went for two after each touchdown and were successful all six times.

It wasn’t until midway in the third quarter that the Panthers crossed midfield. The offense never got over the midfield stripe again.

The longest offensive play for PV came in the first quarter when sophomore wide receiver Chase McArdle caught a pass from senior quarterback Brody Breiner for 23 yards.

MILITARY AND FIRST RESPONDERS HONORED — The evening was dedicated to military and first responders. Fire apparatus from Lansford, Coaldale, Summit Hill and Nesquehoning were parked inside the stadium. The aerial trucks from Summit Hill and Lansford formed an arch from which hung a giant American flag over the scoreboard.

A DIFFERENT PLAY — It’s not often linemen get to touch the ball except on an interception of maybe a fumble recovery. A pass was deflected and fell into the hands of lineman Spencer Black. He began running as he was cheered on by some players and was tackled after about three yards. It didn’t count. There was a penalty because he was an ineligible receiver.

Scoring Summary

Haven (2-0, 1-0)      24     24     0      6      —     54

PV (0-2, 0-1)                0        0         0      0      —     0

SH — Carestia 5 run (Reber run)

SH — Carestia 29 run (Reber run)

SH — Castillo 32 run (Castillo pass from Heim)

SH — Castillo 29 run (Carestia run)

SH — Heim 1 run (Carestia run)

SH — Rossi 22 pass from Heim (Carestia run)

SH — Goad 9 run (no attempt)