With their seasons and any lingering hopes of making the playoffs hanging in the balance, the Warriors and Panthers served up an entertaining game for a large Homecoming crowd at McKinleyville on Friday night.

Hoopa led for much of the game, but had to hold on late as the hosts pushed them all the way before falling 34-29.

Both teams had to overcome a lot of adversity, but each answered the call.

The Warriors were not allowed to practice all week with many of their players in “hot water” with the school administration, according to head coach Curtis Kane, but they showed up ready to go regardless and found a way to get their first conference win and end a four-game losing streak.

“Our slogan for that game was ‘off the couch,’” Kane said. “Nobody got to practice this week, so that was just all desire.”

The Panthers, on the other hand, are battling as many injuries as any team in the H-DNL right now, but what makes that more challenging is the number of injuries they have suffered at cornerback in particular.

So much so, in fact, they had players learning the position on the fly during the game.

“The biggest thing is we’re battling so many injuries right now,” McKinleyville head coach Jason Benge said. “And that hurts.”

Both teams, however, came to play in what was an evenly-matched showdown for much of the night.

The Panthers enjoyed the better of the early exchanges and were moving the ball effectively.

However, just as it appeared they were driving for the opening score, a fumble near the goal line was recovered by Hoopa’s Tyler Lewis to end the threat.

Check out some first-half highlights above …

“That was key,” Kane said. “We had a lot of clutch plays when we really needed them.”

The big play seemed to spur the team to life, and the Warriors then marched 95 yards to the end zone, scoring on a trick play that saw running back Joshua Moon complete a 15-yard TD pass to Carlos Anzora early in the second quarter.

The Panthers to their credit answered almost immediately, with quarterback Ruger Baxter competing the first of his three TD passes for the game, connecting with senior receiver James Fike on a 19-yard scoring pass.

The ensuing two-point conversion, however, was the last of the McKinleyville scoring for the opening half and they trailed 22-8 going into the break.

With quarterback Allen Kane causing the home defense problems with his passing and running, the Warriors began to take control.

They would score two more TDs to cap a 22-point second quarter, the first on a short Lewis run and the second on an 11-yard pass from a scrambling Allen Kane to Anzora in the end zone.

The visitors added two more TDs after the break, one on a Donald Hostler run and the other on a 30-yard Allen Kane pass to Moon.

“Allen had a monster game,” the Hoopa head coach said. “He had 185 yards rushing, most of which was when we were down in the dumps. That was him using his feet to get first downs and get yardage any way possible.”

Once again, the Panthers refused to give up the fight despite the mounting injuries and sizable halftime deficit.

Baxter threw two more TD passes after the break, including an 81-yard bomb to Fike and a six-yarder to Trevor Marsh.

Justin Albertson-Spain also scored for the home team on a seven-yard TD run while filling in for the injured Jeremiah Smith, who had a very impressive first half carrying the ball before seeing just limited action in the second half because of a sprained ankle.

“We played them pretty close,” Benge said. “We did like we’ve done all season, we fought till the end. But we put ourselves in too big a hole.”

Several players stepped up for both teams.

For Hoopa, linebackers Christian Hostler, Ethan Obie, Donald Hostler, Riley Baldy and Lewis all made some big contributions.

“They all made key stops in key situations,” Curtis Kane said.

And that was particularly important in the absence of influential senior defensive end Brian Richards, who has arguably been the Warriors’ most impressive player this season but missed the game through injury.

Smith also had a big game for the Panthers, as he has been doing all year, and ran for several big gains in the opening half, while Albertson-Spain did a good job filling the void in the offensive backfield over the final two quarters.

“He had several big carries,” Benge said of the senior.

Once again, it was the collective response and attitude of the McKinleyville players while facing that adversity that really impressed their coach.

Marsh was learning how to play cornerback on the fly while filling in in the short-handed secondary, while Baxter epitomized the team’s newfound hunger this season, filling in at corner and defensive end.

“It was nice seeing the guys say ‘put me in the game, let’s get our best players out there,’” Benge said.

Orphao Grande also had a huge interception late in the game to give the home team a chance at a comeback in the final minutes, while teammate Vaskak “Wes” Montgomery also had an early interception.