Panthers bring back the gold to its rightful home

On November 4, 2017 our Hartnell Football team defended its home turf against rival MPC dominating with a 25-10 win. It was a beautiful day to be a Panther as the Hall of Fame class of 2017 was inducted earlier in the day, and among that outstanding group was the undefeated 1980 football team who cheered from the stands along with everyone else. The atmosphere was electrifying and as both teams warmed up, there was a sense of calm before the storm. Even with the intensity, straight out of the gate, MPC seemed to be in control as they built momentum with a 14-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter, to take the lead at 7-0. Early on Hartnell’s offense didn't seem to be in sync as drives fell short and when they did make it into the red zone they were denied from a score. MPC would keep on pushing and would extend their lead to 10-0 after a field goal early in the second quarter. With time running out it seemed as though the Panthers were to be scoreless in the first half, but they marched down the field on a stellar drive and scored a touchdown on the pass by (#11) Devon Daich to (#30) Victor Nunez, allowing them to go into halftime down by only 4 points, after the lobos blocked the extra point (10-6). At half-time the Hall of fame inductees were recognized and honored; before the inductees could made it back to their seats, the Panther football team started to come out of the locker room. Hall of Fame inductees cheered them on and encouraged them to go win the game. At that point there was a beautiful moment of the past generation cheering on the current Panthers, and the 2017 football team did not disappoint. With under 4 minutes left in the third quarter, Hartnell took its first lead of the game after a 34-yard touchdown pass that was initially deflected, but eventually landed in the arms of (#31) Jason Berring to bring the score to 13-10. MPC’s offense would be nowhere to be found as Hartnell’s defense would shut them down with the help of 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks between (#17) Alexis Ramos and (#32) Erick Delgadillo. On the other hand, the Panthers offense would score early in the fourth quarter, thanks to (#12) Keishawn Robinson, who ran for a 2- yard touchdown to cap off their drive and bring the score to 19-10, after a missed field goal. The Lobos would try and try to create some sort of drive, but our defense did not break and even excelled on opportunity when MPC lost possession of the ball on a punt in which (#24) Brian Grace scooped it up and scored to bring the final score to 25-10! The Hartnell Panthers brought glory and the trophy back to Hartnell campus. Head Coach Matt Collins had this to say about his squad, stating “Proud, proud of the kids. They were facing some serious adversity throughout the course of the year, had a lot of close losses and we could've easily been a 7 or 8-win team.” Coach Collins credited his players for playing with pride and representing the program with might. Go Panthers!!