The story of "David and Goliath" is a well known tale that is reiterated many times throughout the sports world. The story is most commonly used as an analogy when an underdog is facing an opponent where the consensus is the underdog team will almost certainly lose.

For those of you who do not know the story, David is a regular sized man, while Goliath is a giant. The two come to a standoff and David defeats Goliath by striking him down with a stone that was shot from a slingshot. The Story of "David and Goliath" is widely known as the first true underdog story.In sports, there have been many memorable and epic upsets where the underdog has come out on top. However, there are other instances where the underdog is exactly that an underdog and the end result reveals as such.Unfortunately, that has been exactly the case with the Panther Valley baseball program since their inception into Division 1 of the Schuylkill League in 2009.Before entering Division 1 because of a slight increase in enrollment, the Panthers won two consecutive Division 3 titles in 2007 and 2008. Before the 2009 season, the Schuylkill League was realigned with Panther Valley joining Pine Grove, Jim Thorpe, North Schuylkill, Tamaqua, Blue Mountain, and Pottsville in Division 1.The Panthers were never able to compete with the larger Division 1 teams, which as any coach will tell you, undoubtedly affects the numbers and participants within a program."Back when we were winning a lot of games and competing in Division 3 our numbers were very strong," said Panther Valley coach John Cooper. "Then when we were put in Division 1 and it became a numbers game for us. It was just tough for us to compete with teams like Blue Mountain and Pottsville, who have a lot more numbers than we do. Then of course, when you are losing games the athletes in the school lose interest and they don't come out for the team."The Panthers have the opportunity to turn it all around this season as they are now back in Division 3, playing local rivals. The move was made because former Mountain Valley Conference member Lehighton joined the Schuylkill League in the 2014-15 athletic year, bumping the Panthers from the top seven of highest enrolled schools.Division 2 and Division 3 are not based on enrollment; they're based on geography, putting the Panthers in a division with Weatherly, Shenandoah Valley, Marian, and Mahanoy. Panther Valley will then play crossover games against Division 2 opponents Minersville, Nativity, Schuylkill Haven, Tri-Valley, and Williams Valley.The Panthers will still hold their other local rivalries in place, keeping Jim Thorpe, Tamaqua, and Lehighton all on the schedule."There is no doubt that the move to Division 3 has re-energized our program," said Cooper. "Our kids are excited and have been working hard. You can just tell in their demeanor that they're ready to go out there and compete for a postseason berth. That's what we've been missing the last few seasons."Even with the move to Division 3, Cooper knows that it will not be an easy road for his baseball club to get back toits winning ways."We're not taking anybody for granted," said Cooper. "I know we're still playing some really good baseball teams, but we're playing schools that are our size now. We're playing schools with the same issues that we have to deal with year in and year out and that's the difference. I think we have a group here that is talented and can surprise some people. Honestly, we're just excited to get out there and play baseball."