Panthers finish off Hawks
PHOTO BY www.recorderonline.com
Cruising to the end zone with the nearest defender more than two steps behind him, Porterville High School senior Mark Inman crossed the goal line with a fist in the air to celebrate scoring the game-winning touchdown against Mission Oak.
Inman’s 9-yard touchdown reception from sophomore quarterback Tanner Jones came with less than 9 seconds on the clock and pushed the Panthers (3-2, 1-0 EYL) to a 24-20 victory over the Hawks (0-6, 0-1 EYL) on Thursday at Jacob Rankin Stadium to begin East Yosemite League play.
“It felt great because we’ve been working all night for it and our lineman are doing a great job of pushing the ball,” Inman said about the touchdown. “Had a couple times where we couldn’t finish and it feels great to finish like that, come out on top.”
This was Porterville’s second home game that came down to the final seconds. The other was the team’s 8-7 preseason victory over Hanford (15) on Sept. 15.
“We’ve had a couple of games at home that have PAGE 1B been down to the wire, but offensively we’re getting better,” PHS head coach Michael Machado said. “We really needed that in the pass game and that was huge tonight.”
Porterville closed out the game in thrilling fashion after an early fourth quarter goal-line stand by Mission Oak prevented the Panthers from scoring on fourth down.
On the sidelines, Porterville’s players shouted that they wanted a safety and that’s exactly what they got. On a bad snap to MOHS running back Maurice Villapudua in the shotgun, Villapudua was tackled in the end zone by PHS senior Andrew Caballero for 2 points.
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