Panthers perfect record comes to an end
Porterville falls 50-26 to Tulare Western
Things started off well for Porterville High School’s football team against Tulare Western in Friday’s East Yosemite League game at Jacob Rankin Stadium but they quickly went downhill resulting in a 50-26 loss to the undefeated Mustangs (7-0, 2-0 EYL).
It was the first loss of the season for the previously undefeated Central Section Division IV Panthers (6-1, 1-1 EYL), as well as their first loss to a Div. II team bringing their record against Div. II teams to 3-1.
Porterville scored on both of the opening drives of the first and second quarters, with sophomore quarterback Hector Nava Jr. connecting with senior wide receiver Hunter Alcantar for a 42- and 27-yard touchdown, respectively. But after giving up a total of four touchdowns to Tulare Western — three of them to the Valley’s No. 1 rusher Tairyn Johnson — Porterville went into halftime down 28-17. Junior kicker Nick Ward knocked down a 37-yard field goal just before the end of the half.
There was a life out of the Panthers to start the second half with an on-side kick from Ward scooped up by senior Adelaido Duran on the Mustangs’ 36-yard line on the opening kickoff. But after getting the ball into the red zone, Porterville had to settle for a 32-yard field goal. Af-
ter the game PHS head coach Michael Machado told the team “can’t kick field goals, got to score touchdowns.”
On the following drive, Tulare Western’s Andrew Davis scored a 6-yard rushing touchdown, but Porterville answered with a scoring drive of their own that saw a little trickery from the Panthers. On fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Nava Jr. handed the ball off to freshman running back Isaiah Ellis who tossed the ball to senior running back Demario Ennis who then hit a wide-open Nava Jr. for a touchdown. But after getting a penalty on the PAT, the Panthers were only able to come away with six points.
Down 35-26 with 3 minutes, 29 seconds and a whole quarter to still be played, Porterville wasn’t yet out of the game. The Panthers again went for the onside kick but the Mustangs were ready for it. On the ensuing drive, Johnson scored a 14yard rushing touchdown and Tulare Western put their stamp on the score with a 2-point conversion.
Johnson scored one last time on an 11-yard run in the final three minutes of the game. Prior to his final two scores, Johnson scored on 13-, 1- and 4-yard runs. Tulare Western’s Rolondo Holmes also had a 41-yard reception from quarterback Elijah Burrell for a touchdown in the first quarter. Mustangs’ kicker Carlos Hernandez was 6-of-6 on extra points. The Mustangs also intercepted Nava Jr. twice.
“I told them just now it’s maturity,” Machado said. “We start probably 14 or 15 underclassmen. And they’re still learning how to win, they’re still learning how to play at a championship level, and so they just seen a championship level team and those are the type of things we’re talking about. You need to see those things before you can overcome them. Those are just building blocks in a program and they need to learn that they need to prep themselves a little bit.”
Next week things don’t get any easier for Porterville when they take on Div. II Tulare Union (7-0, 2-0 EYL) at Bob Mathias Stadium in Tulare on Thursday, Oct. 11. While the Panthers faced one of the best rushers in the Valley against the Mustangs, they’ll take on one of the best passers in the Valley when they matchup with the Tribe’s Nathan Lamb.
“It’s the complete opposite,” Machado said. “Tulare Union’s going to throw it all over the field and so we get both. We get two championship caliber team’s back-to-back and they do two completely different things, they’re 180. We’ll get challenged in a different way next Thursday night, and we just got to be mature and learn from this and clean up the mistakes.
“You know we left some points out on the board, I don’t know if it was enough tonight but it would’ve been a situation that we had a shot to win at the end,” Machado added. “And that’s really what you want to do when you’re playing a championship team, is just a shot to win it at the end.”