By Ray Hamill — The Panthers played their most complete game of the season on Friday night as they opened league play with a dominating 53-6 win over Hoopa at McKinleyville High School.
Head coach Jason Benge’s team is enjoying a breakout season and that continued to be the case against the Warriors.
The Panthers scored five first-half touchdowns, including two long scoring passes from impressive quarterback Corbin Green, to end the game as a contest before halftime.
“I just liked how we put a complete game together,” said Benge, whose team improved to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in the Redwood League. “Other than (the one Hoopa TD), we just played consistently. We put all four quarters together finally. We limited the mistakes, limited penalties.”
A dominating first half included a 72-yard TD pass from Green to Lucas Jones. It was the receiver’s only catch of the night, but he made it count.
Green also completed a 65-yard TD pass to Everett Grutzmacher, who was celebrating his birthday, while running back Cameron Heldebrandt added two TD runs, including a 35-yarder to close out the first-half scoring and send his team into the break with a comfortable 34-6 lead.
“He’s been running hard all season,” Benge said of Heldebrandt, who finished the night with 116 yards rushing. “I’m proud of Cam, the way he’s ran all season.”
Braylon Sotelo, Bowdy Hicks and Robert Pool each added TD runs, the latter’s good for 55 yards.
Hoopa’s only touchdown was arguably the score of the night, with quarterback Torin Billings completing a 92-yard TD pass to receiver Jesse Roberts in a high-scoring second quarter that featured four TDs between the two teams.
Three of the first-half TDs went for 72, 65 and 92 yards.
Green completed 8-of-13 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns, and the sophomore quarterback did not throw an interception.
Benge described his performance as “very efficient.”
The McKinleyville defense also had a good night containing the Hoopa offense, with several players stepping up, including Jones, who added an interception to his long TD catch on offense.
Bryce Grutzmacher led the Panthers with seven tackles, while Talon Turner, Wes Montgomery and Francisco Mendez all stepped up on that side of the ball as well, among many others.
“The whole defensive unit did well,” Benge said. “It was just a good group effort on defense.”
The McKinleyville head coach also praised the Warriors and first-year head coach Tashone Rice.
“This is a completely different Hoopa program,” he said. “Hats off to coach Rice. They’ve got some players, they’re going to be a tough team.
“They’re a fun team, they’re great kids, their whole attitude was positive and they kept fighting.”
Hoopa dropped to 0-1 and 1-5.
