By Ray Hamill — Braylon Sotelo has been around McKinleyville football long enough to see the difference this year.
Last weekend, the Panthers kicked off the new season with a hard-fought one-point win over Cloverdale, showing plenty of resiliency to overcome some early-season adversity.
Things did not go well for McKinleyville in the opening half. The receivers dropped too many passes and the offense could not find much of a rhythm, and the Panthers went into halftime trailing by a touchdown and in need of a first-game spark to get them going.
Sotelo, a senior team captain, talked to his teammates at halftime and inspired them to pick up their game, and the second half was a different story, as the Panthers battled back to win 8-7.
It was a test of the team’s character and the players passed that test with flying colors.
And according to head coach Jason Benge, Sotelo played a big part in that.
“He kept us calm and had a halftime talk with the boys,” Benge said. “His leadership really helped.”
Sotelo was quick to give his teammates the credit for the way they battled back and he saw something in them that he hasn’t seen a whole lot of in his time as a McKinleyville Panther.
“You know, in the past few years there’s been a lot of negativity when we’re down, and I didn’t see any of that with these guys,” he said. “I mean, we came back and dominated the second half. I haven’t been more excited to play with a group of guys.”
The senior says he was only playing his part as a team captain when he spoke to his teammates at the break.
“I got them all together and I told them we can’t go and achieve our dreams unless we come out and play our game,” he said. “I knew what we can do. We’ve been practicing for months and months, and I knew we could step up, and we did.”
The versatile team captain, who plays multiple positions, was quick to praise the contributions of three young players in particular.
Sophomores Brycen Phillips, Everett Grutzmacher and quarterback Corben Green all enjoyed outstanding debuts at the varsity level.
Phillips had two sacks, while Grutzmacher had a big interception and scored the winning touchdown late in the game on a 65-yard pass from Green, who played with a composure beyond his years and did not force any passes all afternoon.
“I mean, man, all of them played well,” Sotelo said of the young trio. “For a first game ever on varsity, all three of them did well. I feel that without them it would have been a different game.”
Sotelo was also quick to praise the contributions of both lines, which refused to allow Cloverdale gain any momentum on either side of the ball.
“Especially our offensive line,” he said. “I can’t give enough credit to our line. Without them we wouldn’t have won.”
The Panthers will try to keep their fast start to the new season going when the travel to play Fort Bragg on Friday night, in another key game.
If they are to make some noise in this year’s Redwood League or qualify for the North Coast Section playoffs, the Panthers need to win these early games to give themselves some much-needed momentum heading into league play, which includes games agains the more competitive North Coast teams, like Fortuna, St. Bernard’s and Ferndale.
But Sotelo is confident they can keep it going against the Timberwolves.
“I know it will be tough, but I think if we really bring it to them we’re going to come out on top,” he said.
Friday night’s game kicks off at 7 p.m.
