What a difference a week makes. After struggling mightily in their season opener, the Manchester Panthers offense made a 180 degree turnaround. erupting for 55 points to go along with 524 yards of total offense.

The result was a surprisingly easy 55-20 victory over Field, Friday night at James R France Stadium in a non-league game.

One of the Panthers stars on the evening was senior running back Zac Kreakbaum, who had five rushing touchdowns. He finished with 197 yards rushing on 30 carries. Kreakbaum's five scores is believed to tie a school record for rushing touchdowns in a game. He looks to be fully recovered from a broken leg sustained a year ago.

Junior running back Craig Dougherty also posted some fine numbers for the Panthers with a 153 yards rushing in 10 attempts, and one pass reception for 30 yards. He scored the team's other three touchdowns, two came on the ground, and one thru the air.

According to Manchester Head Coach Jim France, it was a good all around effort by his squad."We came out ready to play tonight," he stated. "We had a real good week of practice, and it carried out to our game."

"Everything seemed to click,” France said. “Offensively, we dismantled them (Field), and there not a bad team. The line opened some real big holes for our running backs. Our 1-2-3 punch of Kreakbaum, Dougherty and Hunter all ran exceptionally well. Steve (King) had one of his best games in a year at quarterback."

"I'm really happy with the way we played. It was good win for us."

Manchester, who avenged a 27-0 setback to the Falcons a year ago, actually trailed in the contest as Field quarterback Matt Eldreth broke free for a 81-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.

The Panthers didn't trail long as Kreakbaum scored his first of three opening half touchdowns on a 3-yard plunge. His run capped off a 13-play, 78 yard drive in 5:01.

Kreakbaum's second tally was a 30-yard run. He followed that up with a 5-yard-er with 6:48 showing in the second quarter breaking a 14-14 deadlock putting Manchester up for good.

Dougherty added a pair of touchdowns for the Panthers in the first half. He was on the receiving end of a 30-yard pass from King. He also scampered 47-yards to the end zone.

Senior kicker Tim Pfeiffer was perfect on all five of his extra point kicks giving the host a 35-20 advantage at the intermission.

Manchester (2-0) continued its scoring bar age in the third quarter as Kreakbaum reached pay dirt on a 9-yard run. His score closed out another long Manchester scoring drive. It was a 8-play, 73-yard drive in 3:06.

The Panthers extended their lead to 48-20 on Kreakbaum's second touchdown of the quarter.

He reached the end zone from 11 yards out at the 2:45 mark.

Dougherty added a 16-yard TD in the final frame for the winners.

"I felt the first drive in the second half was key for us," said France. "After we scored ,we pretty much put them away. Defensively, we made some adjustments at halftime, and were able to shut them down."

"We still have some work to do,” he said. ”We hurt ourselves by some penalties due to the lack of concentration. We'll stress on that area  practice this week."

The victory by the Panthers foiled a good all-around effort by Field's Matt Eldreth, who finished with 222 yards passing on 15 of 24 attempts, and  had 119 yards rushing.

King completed 6 of 8 passes for Manchester for 96 yards, and one touchdown.

Game totals show the Panthers with 22 first downs to 16 for the Falcons. Manchester also out-gained them in total yardage 524 to 363.

The Panthers will close out the non-league portion of their schedule Friday night as they travel to Sullivan to battle the Black River Pirates.