Panthers defeat Grizzlies 47-14
After upsetting Division II Dinuba 33-31 last week, the CIF Central Section Div. IV Porterville High School football kept the wins coming with a 47-14 bulldozing of Div. VI Granite Hills in the two team’s first meeting since 2011, at Rankin Stadium Friday evening.
A 49-yard touchdown pass from PHS sophomore quarterback Hector Nava to senior wide receiver Jesse Hernandez set the tone early for the Panthers (2-0) with the score coming just eight seconds into the game. Less than a minute later after the Grizzlies (0-2) couldn’t pick up a first down, Nava targeted junior Javier Benevidez for a 26-yard touchdown and Porterville was up 14-0 less than two minutes into the game.
Nava finished the first quarter with a 23-yard touchdown pass to senior Hunter Alcantar but with little to no answer for the Panthers’ passing game, the Grizzlies gave up two more touchdown passes to PHS receivers including a 15-yard reception to senior Aaron Cruz and a 3-yard reception to Hernandez before the end of the second half.
“When we got lined up originally — they had been playing zone on film when we had a trade and we figured we could attack with the run game early,” PHS head coach Michael Machado said about sticking with the passing game. “But when they went to a man coverage with a press-man free, we knew it would be a little bit more difficult to run the ball inside the box.”
The Grizzlies defense finally gave the team some life midway through the second quarter after GHHS senior Rudy Esquivel sacked Nava and senior Nicholas Cortez picked off the sophomore in the red zone. Senior quarterback Lalo Alcantar put Granite Hills on the board with a 4-yard touchdown run the next drive but the Grizzlies still trailed 34-7 at the end of the half despite blocking a PAT on the Panthers final score.
While the Panthers may have had the score going for them, a lack of focus gave their coaches a headache with the team picking up around 10 penalties — some of which came in the red zone.
“It was definitely a focus problem, and these are the games that scare you because kids are kids and teenagers are teenagers and they make bad decisions when they get in games where they know the people across from them,” Machado said. “Definitely something we’ve got to clean up. If we play like that, as far as penalty-wise, we won’t win another game. There’s no game left on our schedule that we can play that bad.”
In the second half Porterville stuck with the run more and predominantly giving the ball to junior running back Jayson Thao, who powered his way through the Grizzlies’ line with ease. With senior star running back, Demario Ennis, held out on the coaches’ decision, it was a good to see the Panthers successfully exercise their options in the backfield with Thao, as well as Benevidez.
“It was good that we were able to lean on those guys a little bit,” Machado said. “Both of those guys are juniors, so we’ll have both back which is fantastic. And they’re quite a bit different of backs. One (Thao) is a bigger back that can lower his shoulder and get tough yards. And the other one (Benevidez) is more of a slash guy that we use quite a bit in the pass game.”
Granite picked up their final score on a 10-yard touchdown pass from senior David Ramirez to junior Max Jimenez in the third quarter. Jimenez, who doubled as the kicker, was 2-for-2 on PATS but missed a 42yard field goal.
Porterville scored 13 unanswered points to finish the game with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Cruz from Nava at the end of the third and 1-yard touchdown run by Benevidez in the beginning of the fourth that was set up by a PHS interception by senior Benjamin Rodriguez. Porterville senior Eduardo Ramos also had an interception and Hunter Alcantar had a fumble recovery. Kicker Nick Ward went 6-for-8 on PATS.
Next up Porterville gets a bye but hopes to keep their win streak alive and surprise another Div. II team on Thursday, Sept 6, when they travel to Hanford (1-1) for a 7:30 p.m. game against the Bullpups. Coming off this loss, Granite Hills will stay home and host Div. VI Orosi (1-0), Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7:15 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY FOOTBALL
Porterville 41 Granite Hills 0
Porterville High School’s junior varsity football team shutout Granite Hills 41-0 Thursday evening at Rankin Stadium.
The Panthers were led by quarterback Kayden Broosalis with multiple touchdown passes to receivers Isaiah “Rocket” Ellis, Andrew Duran and Valek Douglas, as well as a rushing touchdown by Jacob Espinoza. Broosalis, Duran, Ellis and Espinoza are all freshmen.guys,