Cheltenham gives Gore first win

Panthers run past Norristown

WYNCOTE » A night that started with an energetic run onto the field ended with a few backflips, a fair bit of dancing and one longawaited Gatorade bath.

Cheltenham had played anything but an easy schedule to start the season and it resulted in an 0-3 start for the Panthers and first-year coach Troy Gore. With a new staff that had only come onto the job a few months prior, it would have been easy for the team to splinter, but the Panthers only rallied and wanted to prove who they really were while also showing off a bit.

An extremely energized Cheltenham got Gore his first win with a 33-0 victory over visiting Norristown, denying the Eagles their first win of the season.

“Football is the game, coaching is the business and that business is to keep your young men motivated,” Gore said. “At 0-3, it’s how do you keep them motivated and also keep pushing the academics. That’s the business of it and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Ironically, for all the energy pregame, things started out slowly on the field. Norristown had the first real scoring threat of the game, when quarterback Robert

Miller hit a deep ball to Nate Robinson down the left sideline on a third down that put the Eagles (0-4) on the Panthers’ 30 before a flag on the home side moved Norristown 15 yards closer.

Cheltenham’s defensive line, which created havoc all night and generated four sacks behind senior ends Matt Hoffman and Mike Slowe plus hard-charging tackle Naheem Williams, came up with two tackles for loss to force a throw on third down. This pass was also completed, but to the wrong colored jersey as Cheltenham senior safety Kamden Wyatt won a jumpball in the endzone

ANDREW ROBINSON/FOR MEDIANEWS GROUP Cheltenham coach Troy Gore celebrates his first win on Friday night.