JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers NOT BACKING DOWN—Newbury Park running back Miles Minton, left, and quarterback Jordan LaSecla will have to have a big offensive night if the Panthers hope to have any shot at upsetting No. 1 seeded St. Bonaventure at home Friday in the second round of the Division IV playoffs. Doug Flutie and his Boston College teammates should’ve never boarded an airplane and flown down to the Orange Bowl to play the Miami Hurricanes in 1984.

James “Buster” Douglas had zero right to step into the ring against the feared Mike Tyson in Tokyo, Japan on Feb. 10, 1990.

And just what were the Americans thinking when they had the audacity to try and challenge the Soviet Union in hockey during the 1980 Olympic Games at Lake Placid?

Didn’t these athletes know they were supposed to lose to superior competition? Didn’t the media tell them that?

It’s the same situation Friday night when the Newbury Park Panthers (8-3) host the St. Bonaventure Seraphs (11-0) in the second round of the Division IV playoffs.

The numbers say St. Bonaventure, the two-time defending Division IV champions and a team that’s won 92 of its last 95 games, including 21 straight victories, can’t be beat.

The Seraphs are too good and too talented to lose to the Panthers. Newbury Park might as well pack up their belongings and call it a season. There’s always next year, right?

“We’re definitely not going into this game thinking that we’re going to lose,” linebacker/wide receiver Travis Dickey said. “We all think we have a shot and we’re going to give it our all.”

Since Dickey’s a young guy, we’ll have to chalk up his optimism to youthful exuberance. But Panther head coach George Hurley has seen enough football during his career to know his team has no shot to win, right?

“You have to beat everybody to win the championship anyway,” Hurley said. “It doesn’t really matter if you meet them in the first round or the fourth round. In order to win the whole thing, you’re going to run into them. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Okay, what’s going on around here? Are they putting something in the water over at Newbury Park (because this team actually thinks it has a chance?)

Jordan Cameron, he’s a star wideout and a smart young man who’ll be attending BYU on a basketball scholarship. Certainly Cameron has to know the end is in sight for the Newbury Park football team. He’s college bound for goodness sake.

“The whole year we’ve been the underdogs,” Cameron said. “People doubted us at the beginning of the season, but we stepped up and won a couple of close games. Being the underdog kind of helps sometimes.”

Fine, let’s entertain for a minute the notion that the Panthers actually do have a shot against St. Bonaventure.

If the Panthers are going to shock the Channel League champs, they must outscore them, because stopping St. Bonaventure running back Michael Lee (1,491 rushing yards, 27 TDs) and quarterback Matt Evans (119-of-232 passing for 1,773 yards, 24 TDs, seven INTs) might not be an option for the undersized Panther defense, said Hurley.

“We’re not a big, dominating team,” Hurley said. “We don’t dominate people. We punt, peck and pick around and throw for 400 yards and hopefully get it in the end zone more times than they do.”

The man in charge of getting the Panther offense points is quarterback Jordan LaSecla, the state leader in passing with 3,735 yards.

LaSecla’s 33-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Josh Baker with six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter last Friday lifted Newbury Park to a thrilling, 39-36, first-round victory over Paso Robles.

Dickey said the momentum from that victory, along with several other late-game wins for the Panthers this year, could carry over into the contest vs. St. Bonaventure.

“It definitely gives us a confidence booster,” Dickey said. “We don’t really want to win games like that, but that’s just how it’s been happening. It just seems like it keeps rolling with us. Hopefully luck stays on our side.” So, with their confidence riding high, the Newbury Park Panthers are prepared to enter this playoff game believing they can win, despite what anybody says or writes to the contrary.

And that’s exactly the mindset Hurley wants to see from his team.

“Usually, if a team goes into a game thinking they’re going to lose, they probably will,” Hurley said. “It’s our job as coaches to make sure that doesn’t happen and get these guys ready to go.”

Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Panther Stadium.