Porterville downs Monache 51-40 in Granite Bowl
Porterville downs Monache 51-40 in Granite Bowl
There was singing, dancing and cheering all along the Porterville High School sidelines as the Panthers pulled off a 51-40 come-from-behind victory and ended the three-year win streak of crosstown, East Yosemite League rival Monache in the 50th annual Granite Bowl at Jacob Rankin Stadium Friday evening.
It was a football matchup of two of the CIF Central Section Division IV’S top playoff-bound teams and it had everything a fan could want in a rivalry game with big hits, touchdowns scored in nearly every way and momentum-changing plays and drives. From the start, the energy shifted back and forth between the Panthers (8-2, 3-2 EYL) and Marauders (6-4, 2-3 EYL) with the teams trading touchdowns and leads, but it wasn’t until the final three minutes of the third quarter when the momentum finally began to stick with Porterville as sophomore quarterback Hector Nava Jr. ran the ball in for a 1-yard touchdown and then a 2-point conversion for the final score of the game.
The rallying cry on the Panthers’ sideline became, “If we get them off the field here, it’s over.” And that’s exactly what Porterville’s defense did. After giving up six touchdowns to the Marauders on nine drives,
the Panthers forced two fourth down turnovers and ended Monache’s hopes of a comeback with an endzone interception by senior Eduardo Ramos with 1:25 left in the game.
“We played four quarters and we know that while some people can stay with us for two or three quarters, it is going to be difficult for them to play us for four quarters and we just wore them out,” PHS head coach Michael Machado said. “And that’s kind of what we do and how we’re built. We were able to get into some better coverages, get some pressure on the quarterback. Those seven, eight yard runs became two, three yard runs and we got them into situations where they couldn’t convert and so we got some stops when we needed them and that’s kind of been the M-O of this football team this year.”
Known for their fourth quarter comebacks this season, Porterville had to bring that must-win attitude to the first quarter after falling behind 20-7 after Monache junior Aidan Galvan returned a kickoff for a touchdown, scored a 3-yard touchdown run and junior Trayvon Bradford picked off Nava and returned the interception for a touchdown all in a span of three minute.
Finally in the final two minutes of the first, Porterville senior Demario Ennis scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 19-yard run and junior kicker Nick Ward’s extra point was good to cut Monache’s lead to 20-14. Not quite finished, Ennis scored on the Panthers’ first drive of the second quarter on a 54-yard run and Ward’s kick gave Porterville a one-point lead. Ennis scored his final touchdown on an 8-yard run the next drive after Ramos recovered a fumble by Monache senior quarterback Antonio Andrade.
“You know scoring against Monache, that’s been my dream so my blood was pumping,” Ennis said. “I had to do it again, again, again, and again.”
He added, “It’s really exciting. Our coach has been telling us all week, we’ve got to execute and that was my mindset. Execute, execute, execute. One-hundred and ten percent every play and that’s what I did. I gave it all I [could], I knew my team would come up. I just knew we’d do it.”
Before the end of the half Bradford scored again on a 3-yard touchdown run and for the rest of the game, every Monache touchdown was answered with a Porterville one.
The Panthers opened the second half with an on-side kick and a 36yard touchdown pass from Nava to senior Jesse Hernandez, which was followed by an 8-yard touchdown run by Galvan. On the next drive Nava scored on a 2-yard run and the Marauders answered with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Andrade to junior Tori Powell to make it a 3-point game just before Nava’s final, game-sealing touchdown drive.
Ward was 6-of-6 on extra points with one 21yard field goal blocked by Powell while Porterville went 2-for-2 on 2-point conversions with Nava and Hernandez also linking up for one. Monache senior kicker Omar Meza was 4-for-4 on extra points but the Marauders were unsuccessful on two 2-point conversion attempts.
“This is my secondyear in it and the majority of our coaching staff are alumni and there’s a lot of people that this means a lot too,” Machado said. “Those are the great things for me, just to watch those guys smile and the players smile. I think it’s been three-years straight, so to allow those guys to enjoy that and put the rock back where it belongs, and hold on to it for a few years and allow those guys to enjoy it is what makes me have a great feeling. I’m a grinder so these kinds of things are fun for a couple of hours and we’ll be right back to it tomorrow morning but it’s fun to watch those guys celebrate.”
Monache almost made the game close in the final four minutes when Andrade hit Powell for a 20-yard touchdown pass but it was ruled incomplete after a discussion between the referees.
“It really comes down to — and I know it’s cliche and I don’t want to be one of those Youtube videos — but it’s all about mistakes and execution,” MHS head coach Chris Frankland said. “And in a big game, we made too many mistakes... [in] some key situations. I’m crazy proud of our kids, they played their tails off. Credit to coach Machado, they played really, really well. I thought we made some good front adjustments defensively but we made them a little too late and we had to make a couple plays and we didn’t. Even down here towards the end, they ruled that the touchdown wasn’t good and that’s a big play. Big plays in big games are magnified and we didn’t make them. And we’ll live with it and move on and we still have more to play for and that’s where our focus will be.”
Entering the game as possibly the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, Porteville hopes the win will give the team the No. 1 seed for the Div. IV Valley playoffs. Seedings and brackets will be released tomorrow on the Central Section website at cifcs.org.