Year two of the Mark Lavine era at Panther Valley will have little resemblance to year one.

“This season already has a completely different feel to it,” Lavine said. “I know I’m more comfortable with what we are doing and I’m sure our assistant coaches and players are as well.

“There was so much to install and teach last year. This year everyone is more comfortable with the terminology, the expectations, what we want to do offensively, what we want to do defensively ... it’s like night and day. We definitely hit the ground running this year. We are multiple steps ahead of where we were at this point a year ago.”

But comfort and familiarity with Lavine’s system won’t be the only major difference in the Panthers this season.

They’ll also be a huge difference in how Panther Valley will attack teams offensively.

That change is needed because the Panthers lost versatile two-way performer Mike Pascoe to graduation.

A year ago, Pascoe was the Panther Valley offense.

Playing both running back and quarterback for the Panthers, Pascoe carried or passed the ball on 379 of the Panthers’ 560 plays from scrimmage (68 percent). Palmerton’s Matt Machalik (70 percent) was the only area player who had a bigger share of his team’s offensive plays. For reference, no other team in the area had a player who was involved in more than 48 percent of his team’s plays.

“I like to say our offense was very ‘Mike-centric’ last year,” said Lavine. “Feeding the ball to one player as much as we did isn’t necessarily my style of coaching, but we felt that’s what gave us the best chance to win last year.

“This year, we plan to be a lot more diverse offensively. We expect to have lots of kids with lots of touches.”

Among the players who Lavine will be counting offensively are quarterback Brody Breiner; running backs Brennan Kunkel and Marcus Rodriguez; receivers Brady Jones, Connor Penberth, Frank Shubeck and Ben Beneravage; and tight end Logan Fisher. All eight of those players are underclassman.

“We are young at the skill positions, but I really like the speed and athleticism we have there,” said Lavine. “We have a number of kids who can be playmakers for us.

“Our job as a coaching staff is to try to put them in the best situation possible to take advantage of their strengths.”

Last season, the Panthers were last among teams in the Times News area, averaging just 14.1 points a game offensively.

Lavine is hoping that despite losing their top offensive weapon in Pascoe, the Panthers can improve on that number.

“The kids’ familiarity with our system this year has allowed us to add a few more wrinkles that we hope will benefit us and help us score a few more points,” Lavine said. “Part of that comes down to being more explosive and also more efficient. Last year, we didn’t have a lot of big plays. We were a team that had to try and win time of possession - and we did a fairly good job of that. But we had too many long drives that didn’t produce points.

“Getting some big plays is one way to bolster our scoring average - and I think we have the speed to do that. The other thing we need to do is turn red zone possessions into points.”

Defensively, the Panther strength a year ago was in the back end of their defense.

“I thought as the season went on last year, we showed a lot of improvement playing against spread teams and teams that wanted to throw the ball around,” Lavine said. “Where we struggled was against power teams. We just didn’t have the size and strength to match up and go toe-to-toe with teams.”

Lavine said he’s encouraged by his team’s off-season dedication in the weight room and says that will help this year, although the Panthers are still not where they need to be physically.

“Our goal as a program is to eventually be a strong, physical team that runs the ball effectively to set up play action passing,” Lavine said. “We want to be a team that controls both sides of the line of scrimmage. We aren’t at that point yet, but we are working toward getting there.”

Among the players to be counted on defensively for the Panthers are Marco Tessitore, Brian Welser, Brad Jones, Marcus Rodriguez and Fisher.

A year ago, the Panthers compiled a 3-8 record that included a win against Nativity in a contingency game to close the season.

“We were handled pretty good in our final two regular season games last year,” Lavine said. “But when we asked the kids if they wanted to play a contingency game, they overwhelmingly said yes. I think that’s a great indication of their mindset and their desire to turn the program around. These kids want to compete and they want to improve.

“I think you’ll see that in their play this season. I never want to put a number on our win total. Obviously, we would love to win a few more games than last year. But the main goal I’ve set for them is to get better every day and to continue to build the program to where we want it to be.”

POSITION BREAKDOWN

QUARTERBACKS

Sophomore Brody Breiner will the starter. Breiner saw some action behind center a year ago when Mike Pascoe moved to running back. Coach Mark Lavine estimated that Breiner quarterbacked about 25 percent of the Panthers’ plays, but primarily handed the ball off, completing 1 of 8 passes for 29 and carrying the ball just 14 times for 40 yards. He will have a much larger role both running and passing the ball this season. Matt Spino is the backup.

RUNNING BACKS

Marcus Rodriguez will be the fullback and Brennan Kunkel the halfback. Brian Welser is the top backfield reserve. Kunkel was second on the team in carries a year ago, carrying the ball 67 times for 252 (3.76 ypg).

WIDE RECEIVER

Lavine likes his contingent of receivers. Brady Jones, Connor Penberth, Frank Shubeck, Ben Baneravage and Jah Bushati will all see action as receiver. Lavine expects to use their speed and athleticism in both the passing and running game. Tight end Logan Fisher is a big target as well. Fisher will be backed up by Welser and Danny Wehr.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Clinton Dyer should start at center; Brad Jones and Zack Seifert will be the guards; and Marco Tessitore and Eli Maynard will be the tackles. Michael Wiliiams is the top reserve in the trenches.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Maynard and Wehr will be the ends in the Panthers’ 4-3 defense, with Welser and Tessitore expected to start at the tackle positions. Michael Williams and Spencer Black will also see action up front.

LINEBACKERS

Brad Jones, Fisher and Marcus Rodriguez give the Panthers a strong nucleus at linebacker. Baneravage and Dyer will provide depth at the position.

SECONDARY

Brady Jones and Shubeck will be the starting cornerback, while Breiner and Kunkel will be the starting safeties. Baneravage and Jah Bushati will be the top reserves.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Jah Busheti gives the Panthers a reliable option in the kicking game. He was perfect on his extra points a year ago and Lavine said he has increased his distance in the offseason and now could be a field goal weapon as well.