They earned one Saturday afternoon.

Without starting quarterback Luke Petryszak, Portville went to Jack Keeney Community Field and scored the game’s lone touchdown en route to beating Clymer/Sherman/Panama 9-3 to spoil the Wolfpack’s homecoming.

The Panthers, who lost a heartbreaker to Franklinville/Ellicottville 16-8 in overtime last Friday, improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Class D play. They’ll need to beat Cattaraugus-Little Valley and Gowanda/Pine Valley the next two weeks to set up a possible first-place showdown with Randolph on Friday, Oct. 21 in Portville.

“Any time you can beat a program that Ty (Harper) has built over here … it’s fantastic,” Brooks said postgame. “We came in with the attitude that we had nothing to lose.”

Portville's Zander Keim is tackled by Clymer/Sherman/Panama's Trent Burchanowski (15) and Taite Newman (52) during Saturday's Class D game at Jack Keeney Community Field in Panama. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Clymer/Sherman/Panama, which has now lost to Randolph and Portville in league games, plays at Frewsburg this coming Friday night and will host Franklinville/Ellicottville on Saturday, Oct. 15. The Wolfpack (3-2, 3-2) are likely out of contention for a share of the league title.

“Against good teams, if you don’t punch it in, this is the result. We scored 3 points today,” said Harper, Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s head coach. “Anything that we did well, they did a pretty good job of adapting to.”

Saturday’s game was fairly evenly played yardage-wise, but the Panthers were able to come up with a pair of big plays while Clymer/Sherman/Panama was unable to capitalize on its best opportunities.

Portville scored the lone points of the first half on a safety to lead 2-0 after two quarters of play.

“If we were going to have a chance today, we knew we would have to play defense. Our defense has been spectacular all year,” Brooks said. “We knew if we were going to pull this off we’d have to keep them off the scoreboard as much as we could.”

Clymer/Sherman/Panama's Trent Burchanowski attempts to get away from Portville's Caiden Zollinger during Saturday's Class D game at Jack Keeney Community Field in Panama. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

On the first play of the second quarter, facing a fourth-and-6 from the Wolfpack’s 45-yard line, Brooks elected to have Bryan Randolph — taking over the job for the injured Petryszak — punt. The left-footed soccer player dropped one inside the 10-yard line and the ball came to rest at the 3.

“That was his first game ever punting,” Brooks said of Randolph. “It was just a momentum shift.”

On first down, Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Trent Burchanowski tried to get around the edge of the Portville defense, but was tackled in the end zone by Caiden Zollinger.

“They got into a formation that we recognized,” Brooks said. “Our senior captain read it and made a great play for those 2 points.”

The Wolfpack punted twice and turned the ball over on downs twice in the first half, their deepest drive reaching the Panthers’ 37-yard line before a Tate Catanese incompletion turned the ball back over to Portville.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama's Bryce Hinsdale catches a pass early in Saturday's Class D game against Portville at Jack Keeney Community Field in Panama. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Panthers backup quarterback Drew Langdon completed a 32-yard pass to Zander Keim on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter, but on the next play Gabe Roth recovered a fumble for Clymer/Sherman/Panama. The Wolfpack was unable to do anything with the extra possession as Keim blew up a fourth-down run for a loss of 4 yards.

“Keim is terrific. That (Kyran) Johnson kid is a beast inside,” Harper said of two of the Panthers’ best defensive players. “Coming into the game, we knew that Keim was going to be a kid that we had to get blocked. I don’t think we did that consistently enough.”

After Portville missed its second field-goal attempt of the afternoon on its next drive, Clymer/Sherman/Panama drove 46 yards in seven plays, but on fourth-and-9 from the Panthers’ 34-yard line, Keim sacked Catanese for an 11-yard loss.

“Jason Luther does an awesome job with their defense,” Harper said. “They brought a lot of pressure today. I don’t know if we were equipped to handle it.”

Four plays later, Portville scored its touchdown. Brooks called timeout after a loss of 3 yards on first down and on the next play, Langdon completed a 43-yard pass to Keim. Two plays later, Keim scored on an 11-yard run and Randolph added the point-after kick to make it 9-0.

“We saw the seam was there if the safety stayed over the top,” Brooks said. “With Drew being in his first start … instead of just calling it in the huddle, we wanted to make sure everybody was on the same page and the protection was right up front.”

A fumbled snap and a pair of penalties doomed the Wolfpack’s next two drives. On their final drive, they salvaged a 22-yard field goal by Bryce Hinsdale, but the Panthers recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock to send Clymer/Sherman/Panama to its first homecoming loss since the merged program began in 2015.

“I’m starting to feel like a broken record. We’re doing a decent job of moving the ball, but when we get there, that’s been our Achilles’ heel all season,” Harper said of his team’s red-zone inefficiency, which was also a problem in a 35-18 loss to Randolph in Week 2. “Even in games that we’ve won, punching it into the end zone and finishing drives, that’s something we have to learn how to do.”

NOTES: Clymer/Sherman/Panama ran for 98 yards, led by Trent Burchanowski’s 10 carries for 69 yards. … Catanese went 17 of 30 for 175 yards. Hinsdale caught eight passes for 67 yards and Brayden Hayes caught three for 81 yards. … Lucas Lisciandro and John Watson were each in on 10 tackles for the Wolfpack. … Portville ran 39 times for 87 yards, led by Kaedon Holcomb’s 22 carries for 60 yards. … Langdon completed six passes for 118 yards. Keim caught two passes for 76 yards.

Portville 0 2 7 0 — 9

Clymer/Sherman/Panama 0 0 0 3 — 3

Por–Zollinger tackled Burchanowski in end zone

Por–Keim 11 run (Randolph kick)

C/S/P–Hinsdale 22 FG