Panthers

The Florida Panthers once again protected a third-period lead, although this one was hardly a typical effort. The visiting Panthers let a three-goal advantage shrink to one with 11 minutes left last night, then held on for a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. Florida was 14-1-0 when leading after two periods, so its 4-1 lead with 20 minutes left looked almost insurmountable. That was before Peter Bondra scored twice to bring the Caps back into the game. The Panthers then limited Washington to one shot the rest of the way and improved their record to an NHL-best 19-7-1.

Ten days ago Walt Ostrowski sat in the stands at a Cheltenham overtime win over Wissahickon and realized that the high-powered Panthers' attack would be too much for his Hatters. So the Hatboro-Horsham coach began plotting an antidote. Then, on Friday night, the Hatters unveiled an offense that could be the envy of snails anywhere. They crept along from opening whistle to closing horn. The approach was successful to a point. Hatboro-Horsham stayed fairly close to the host Panthers, but failed to hit double figures as a team and ended up on the short end of a 21-9 Suburban One American Conference game.

Haverford High is capable of running an up-tempo offense, according to coach Fred Brown. But the Fords, he said, couldn't match Strath Haven in a four-quarter race up and down the court. Monday night the visiting Panthers used second- and third-quarter scoring spurts and took a 78-68 Central League contest with the Fords. "It got into a real track meet," said Brown, "and we don't have a deep enough bench to run with them. They have enough guys to keep them running. " After a quarter the Fords were trailing by two baskets, 16-12, but the Panthers took a 10-point halftime lead, 41-31.

Take away the X's and O's, take away offensive patterns, take away defensive sets and what's the only thing left that really matters in a basketball game? - That's right. Putting the ball through the hoop. Strath Haven's 71-63 victory over Upper Darby in Friday night's Central League clash was a prime example, because the Panthers made most of their shots in the second half and the Royals didn't. Leading by only 2 points, 31-29, at halftime, the Panthers hit 14 of 18 shots in the second half, outscored the Royals, 17-8, in the third quarter and then hung on for their fourth triumph in five games.

William Tennent stood on the threshold of upsetting visiting North Penn Tuesday night before collapsing in the final period for a 79-62 loss to their Suburban One League National Conference rival. Trailing by 28-22 at intermission, the Panthers (1-10 league, 5-12 overall) started a tough, full-court press that helped close the deficit to 48-47 by the end of the third period. Tennent even took the lead, 53-52, with 6 minutes to play when junior guard John Schwanholt stole the ball and drove the lane to the hoop.

I THINK there's a good chance the Eagles will be a better team than the Panthers by the end of the season. The game, however, seems to be scheduled for this week. I was leaning hard toward the Panthers even before yesterday's Shawn Andrews/Jon Runyan follies. Yesterday pretty much clinched it for me. I didn't get a strong "taking this in stride" vibe from anybody. The middle of the defense might be a bigger problem right now than the offensive line. "We certainly understand where teams want to attack us," new defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said yesterday.

Imhotep Charter is one win away from repeating as Public League boys' basketball champion after defeating Math, Civics, and Sciences, 66-52, in yesterday's semifinal at Southern High. The Panthers (20-5), the reigning PIAA Class AA state champions who won their second straight Class AA league title on the same floor Saturday, relied on a pair of juniors to overwhelm the Class A-champion Mighty Elephants. Ameen Tanksley, Imhotep Charter's 6-foot-5 forward, scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, scoring 11 of the Panthers' 14 second-quarter points.

Hatboro-Horsham dominated the line of scrimmage and took advantage of host Cheltenham's mistakes for a 27-0 victory Saturday in the season opener for both teams. "I think the guys up front did an outstanding job," said Hatters coach Dennis Steinly. "And (they) forced Cheltenham to do things they weren't figuring they'd have to do. They came out and tried to establish the run, and I think the guys . . . did a great job forcing them to throw the ball a little bit more than they probably normally would.

Strath Haven brought its sizable marching band, a considerable number of fans and a charged-up football team into South Philadelphia Saturday afternoon to do battle against non-league foe St. John Neumann. Between the hash marks, it was the Pirates who played the part of the rude hosts as they scored once in each quarter to defeat the visiting Panthers 27-6. Senior running back Daryl Nelson rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns for the Pirates, who gained a total of 199 yards on the ground.

It didn't take long to figure out whether Strath Haven was overconfident for its first-round PIAA District 1 Class AAA game with visiting Avon Grove Tuesday night. After two minutes, the Panthers led 8-0. After four, it was 17-0. After six minutes, their lead was 24-0. And at the end of the first quarter, it was 26-2. When the game was mercifully over, the scoreboard read Strath Haven 70, Avon Grove 23, and 17 Panthers had played, including six just called up from junior varsity.