Franklin Regional cruised past Montour in a Class AAA first-round playoff game.

And the Panthers owe it all to a two-minute stretch of dominance.

Franklin Regional scored three touchdowns in less than two minutes at the end of the third quarter en route to a 35-20 victory against Montour last night at Franklin Regional Stadium.

Panthers coach Greg Botta said he cannot remember another team scoring so quickly in a playoff game.

"I doubt too many teams have done that," Botta said.

The Panthers got a little help from Montour miscues, though.

The Spartans turned over the ball twice near the end of the third quarter, allowing the Panthers to capitalize.

Montour fumbled one punt -- a mistake it made twice in the game -- and quarterback Dillon Buechel threw an interception.

"You can't have turnovers in the playoffs," Montour coach Lou Cerro said. "You just can't do that."

Montour lost three fumbles and had two interceptions in the game.

"They don't do that," Botta said, "and it's a different ballgame."

Panthers running back Chad Bowman ran for 160 yards and a touchdown to lead Franklin Regional.

But through two quarters of play, it looked as if Bowman would be a nonfactor.

Bowman had just 15 yards rushing in the first half, and at halftime his longest run of the game was 6 yards.

"Chad ran hard, but he couldn't get the seam," Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said.

He said Montour's defensive line played a lot of different looks in the first half.

"It caused Chad and the offensive line a lot of havoc," Botta said.

But on the first play of scrimmage in the second half, Bowman doubled his offensive output. And he never looked back.

Bowman had seven carries of more than 10 yards in the second half, including a highlight-reel-worthy 25-yard touchdown run full of broken tackles and cutbacks.

Botta said the team stopped trying to run through the Montour line; instead, he told Bowman to run around it.

"We outflanked them," he said.

That, and they moved 6-foot-6, 290 pound tackle Sean Hickey into a lead blocking position.

"We didn't really establish the run in the first half," Bowman said "But we came out in the second half and were ready to play."

So did the Franklin Regional defense.

After allowing 135 yards rushing to Philip Peckich in the first half, the Panthers limited him to minus-9 in the second half.

The game could have been much different had both teams not wasted good opportunities in the first half.

On each of Franklin Regional's first three drives, the Panthers drove the ball into Montour territory -- including one possession that started at the Spartans' 20. But the Panthers failed to score a point on any of those trips.

Montour recovered from early miscues of its own.

The Spartans outgained the Panthers, 181-84 yards, in the first half, but five fumbles resulting in two turnovers kept Montour from gaining much momentum.

Montour took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Peckich took a handoff on third-and-1 and ran 68 yards for a touchdown.

Franklin Regional responded -- after Montour's fourth fumble of the game -- with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Steve Liberatore to Ben Stephens early in the second.

The Spartans threatened to take the lead before halftime, but were again undone by miscues. With the ball at Franklin Regional's 10 with 25 seconds left in the first half, Montour quarterback Buechel was sacked for a 13-yard loss. Andrew Krall's 30-yard field-goal try as time expired missed after hitting the crossbar.

Montour limited Franklin Regional to just 7 yards rushing in the first half.

The Panthers will play top-seeded Thomas Jefferson in the second round next week.

Liberatore finished 10 of 19 for 182 yards and three touchdowns passes.

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