Sweet Victory For USC, Conwell Over Mt. Lebo

On a blustery cold, late October evening the Panthers' offense heated up much like it has done the latter part of the season.

After a monumental 42-6 thrashing of Mt. Lebanon that clinched the section title, Dakota Conwell celebrated with his teammates and basked in the glow of a spectacular 2011-12 regular season. The Panthers finished 8-1, 5-0 in the Great Southern Conference.

"This is the greatest win I've had in my high school career," Conwell said.

"He's a Tim Tebow style of quarterback, but all these coaches want him to be a linebacker...he's done all I asked," said head coach Jim Render.

as a linebacker, but coach Render makes a great point. Conwell has proven he can play quarterback at the next level if he wanted to.

Conwell's offensive numbers were staggering last night. In the second quarter alone he ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns. He carried the ball 24 times for 276 yards, including a spectacular 84-yard run in the fourth quarter that set up USC's final score of the night in the 42-6 blowout victory.

"My line came out and blocked unbelievable. We were ready and hyped to play," Conwell said.

"Dakota's been working for this a long time," Render said.

The Panthers went to work early as they have done against every conference opponent this year. They have outscored their competition by an amazing 236-20 margin in conference play.

USC marched 51 yards in eight plays on their first possession capped off by a Zach Deitrick 13-yard touchdown scamper with 7:10 left in the first quarter that gave the Panthers the lead for good, 7-0.

Mt. Lebanon used a solid first half performance by Luke Hagy to keep things competitive through the first quarter. Hagy ran for 94 of his 123 yards in the first half.

The game was aired on ROOT Sports, but in the second quarter it might as well been called "The Dakota Conwell Show." Aided by two straight personal fouls by the Blue Devil defense, first a late hit on Arthur Goldberg on Conwell out of bounds and then a facemask call, the Panthers punched it across the endzone for the second time in the game when Conwell scored from two yards out. That made the score 14-0 and the Panthers were rolling.

USC squibbed the ensuing kickoff and Morgan Lee forced Joshua Alberts to cough up the football. Pete Coughlin, who has been superb on special teams all year, pounced on the football and the Panthers were back in business.

Three plays later Conwell was celebrating in the endzone following a 26-yard touchdown run, his second of the quarter and it was 21-0.

Mt. Lebanon would soon find out it just wasn't going to be their night. On the ensuing drive, Pat Goff had a beautiful 37-yard touchdown strike to Troy Apke called back due to an illegal shift penalty. Appropriately, penalties cost the Blue Devils dearly in the first half as they were penalized 60 yards.

USC forced a punt on that drive and their offense was back on the field. However, they wouldn't be on the field long as Conwell raced 51 yards for his third touchdown of the quarter with 1:55 remaining, making the score 28-0.

Hagy scored from one yard out with 29 seconds left and the score 28-6 at the half. It would turn out to be the only play keeping USC from shutting out their sixth opponent of the season.

Deitrick scored his second touchdown of the game from 23 yards out in the third quarter making the score 35-6 and the rout was on. Overall the Panthers rushed for 388 yards on the night compared to Mt. Lebanon's 137.

Austin Stephan closed out the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter following the 84-yard run by Conwell. The game ended with the mercy rule in effect and the Panthers won 42-6.

USC claimed it's first section title since 2006 and coach Render couldn't say enough about his team after the contest.

"Too much was made of my number of victories this year, I'd trade it all in for tonight," Render said.

The coach obviously has a special feeling about this team and his coaches as well.

"I have a marvelous coaching staff. They're good coaches, real students of the game," Render said.

"This is a great feeling, this will be a banner in our building," Conwell said. "We're going to take it one week at a time, and try to win a WPIAL championship."

The win will secure the number three ranking and assure they wouldn't play top ranked Central Catholic until the championship game at Heinz Field. North Allegheny will be the second seed following their 17-0 win over North Hills Friday night.

If Upper St. Clair takes care of business in the first two rounds of the WPIAL playoffs, it will likely set up a rematch of their .

However, as Conwell said, it's one week at a time at this point. The WPIAL pairings will be announced Monday night and the Panthers will find out who their first opponent will be on the road to Heinz Field—where the WPIAL championship is played.

Share your congratulations with the Panthers! Tell them in the comments.