Feather River Outruns Hartnell’s Air Power

The Panthers’ five touchdown passes and 425 total yards passing, plus a sixth TD on a 4-yard run, sound like a winning combination, but the team’s 39-48 loss to Feather River on Oct. 9 tells another story.

The biggest clue to that outcome is in total rushing, where the undefeated Golden Eagles’ 286 total yards were more than five times Hartnell’s 49 yards on the ground.

That difference, combined with a lost fumble and a couple of critical penalties, told the tale in a defeat that has Head Coach Matt Collins refocusing his team on their next game against Gavilan on Oct. 16, the season’s first conference matchup.

“It always comes down to turnovers, and it really caught up to us,” Collins said. “It’s all that we’ve talked about from the get-go. It’s not who we play, it’s how we play.”

The bright spots were many during Hartnell’s third home game of the season.

In addition to quarterback JP Garcia’s personal-record passing total and long touchdown throws of 52 and 75 yards to wide receiver Angel Olivas, wide receiver Josiah Freeman caught touchdowns of 49 and 21 yards.

The Rams have only played two games so far because of several cancellations, both losses, but Collins expects them to be fairly healthy and rested.

“We need to get the morale of our troops back to a high level and excited about the opportunity,” he said.