Panthers Return to Gridiron with Focus and Determination

As Hartnell Football prepares for an Aug. 25 scrimmage at San Jose City College, its first game since 2019, Head Coach Matt Collins said his squad is young but eager to learn and succeed.

“The young men we’re coaching, they’re fun to coach,” Collins said. “They work hard. There’s not a lot of selfishness.”

He called this week’s scrimmage a welcome chance for players to experience the highly orchestrated routine of away-game travel, including the new complexity of safety protocols related to COVID-19.

Just 10 days later, the team will make the four-hour trek north to Yuba College in Marysville for its first regular game before hosting a resurgent Foothill program at Rabobank Stadium at 1 p.m. on Sept. 11.

The Panthers’ current roster of about 50 players is vulnerable to attrition over a 10-game season, Collins said, but on the other hand he sees much to feel good about. That includes the return of six veteran players from 2019, when Hartnell was 6-4, averaging 25.3 points per game.

Along with those returners are a group of 2020 high school grads who joined the team ahead of last fall’s canceled season and some who just graduated in 2021 after not being able to play during their senior year of high school.

The team’s size may mean some standouts will play both sides of the ball, a possibility that coaches have been evaluating during the pre-season.

On offense, Collins sees several strong skill-sets, including the evident talents of likely starting quarterback Juan Pablo Garcia (“J.P.”), who joined Hartnell last fall after moving to Salinas from Mexico to join family in the area.

“He showed up on my doorstep one day and asked about playing,” Collins said, “so I said, ‘Of course, I’d love to have you.’ He’s our number one guy going in.”

At 6 feet, 4 inches and 245 pounds, the coach said Garcia “brings size, speed, arm strength and intelligence.”

“He asks great questions and applies the coaching points we make,” Collins said. “He does a great job of applying them shortly thereafter. It’s a breath of fresh air working with him.”

He also pointed to wide receiver Josiah Freeman, a 2020 recruit from Soledad High School, and center Killian Grim, a product of Everett Alvarez High who joined Hartnell in 2019.

Not only can Grim fill multiple roles within a “big” and “physical” – but relatively shallow – offensive lineup, Collins said, he’s also a natural leader.

“He’s teaching the young guys how to do things right just by example; he doesn’t have to say anything,” the coach said. “He’s just very, very committed to the program and does a great job of communicating.”

Overall, the offense has good speed and should be strong, Collins said. Defense will present a bigger challenge because of the squad’s overall youth and inexperience, especially in the backfield, he said.

Collins said a key defensive leader will be lineman Robert Brown from Carmel High School, who was an all-conference freshman in 2019.

“We have some great leadership up front,” he said. “I think that we’re going to have to really be disciplined in the secondary. We’ve really got to get our best guys out there, and we’re still in the evaluating process.”

New to the Panthers’ schedule will be Feather River College, which was bumped down to Hartnell’s division prior to the pandemic year. They should benefit from having played a five-game schedule this spring, which the Panthers did not.

Collins is determined to see his players concentrate on their immediate opponent rather than looking ahead to who they’ll face down the road.

“We focus on No. 1,” he said. “Our job is to be 1 and 0, and each week your job is just to be 1 and 0.”