Porterville rolls past Mt. Whitney
When Joe Namath was hurt much of his senior year at Alabama, he still had one more hurrah left in him when he came off the bench and almost led the Crimson Tide to a comeback win against Texas in the 1965 Orange Bowl.
After the game, Alabama coach Bear Bryant commented, “it’s good to have a backup.”
Well, Porterville High has a talented backup in Cody Henwood. And Henwood has plenty of talented friends and the Panthers put on an offensive display to remember, rolling up 559 yards in a 48-14 win over Mt. Whitney on Friday at Rankin Stadium. It was obviously an impressive victory against a program that certainly isn’t used to losing by 34 points.
Porterville scored on eight of its nine possessions, never having to punt. The Panthers rolled up 387 rushing yards and Henwood completed nine passes for 172 yards. The only time PHS didn’t score came when Henwood threw an interception, the only mistake he made in the game.
“Guys did we make a statement or what?” PHS assistant coach Marshall Chairez told the Panthers after the game.
And Henwood made a statement filling in for starting quaterback Joe Joven. “You have no idea,” said Henwood when asked how much fun it was running the Panther offense. “I’ve never been so pumped up in my life.”
And with skill players like Michael Clark (14 carries, 64 yards), Michael Forrester (six carries, 75 yards, two touchdowns), Bruce Volaski (13 carries, 164 yards), David Ali (two touchdown runs), Courtland Duckworth, Joel Smithey, Matt Clark... the list goes on.
“We have so many athletes on this team, it’s unbelievable,” Henwood said. “We could just run the whole game and win but our receivers are awesome. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
And obviously none of it could have been done without the offensive line. “It’s all on the line,” Henwood said. “I just threw the ball and handed it off and they blocked.”
The turning point of the game came on Mt. Whitney’s opening drive when it drove deep into Porterville territory but Dustin Martin made the first of his two interceptions at the PHS 7-yard line and returned it to the Panther 37 and Porterville was off to the races.
Porterville drove 63 yards on its opening drive which was capped by Ali’s 7-yard scoring run that made it 7-0. On its next drive, Henwood completed a 24-yard pass to Volaski to set up Ali’s 3-yard TD run that gave PHS a 14-0 lead. Volaski added two receptions for 58 yards to give him 222 yards of total offense.
After a 20-yard run by Volaski, Forrester ripped off a 47-yard scoring run to make it 21-7.
After Mt. Whitney gambled on fourth down at midfield and didn’t make it, Volaski’s 20-yard run set up Damian Vallin’s 27-yard field goal to make it 24-7. Vallin was 6-of-6 on PATs and 2-of-2 on field goals.
On Porterville’s next drive, Austin Flynn had a 40-yard reception from Henwood and Volaski had a 12-yard run to set up Forrester’s 13-yard scoring run that gave Porterville a 31-7 halftime lead.
Michael Clark’s 1-yard TD run gave Porterville a 38-14 lead and a 22-yard pass from Henwood to Forrester set up Vallin’s 39-yard field goal that made it 41-14.
Matt Clark, Eric Torres and Dean Cowart got into the act on Porterville’s final drive as their running set up Michael Clark’s 2-yard run to finish the scoring.
The only other drawback to the game for Porterville is it continues to have to deal with injuries. On his only run, a 13-yard gain, Cowart, a starting linebacker, hurt his leg. Ali also continued to be bothered by an ankle injury and had to come out of the game midway through the third quarter.
PHS JV 28, MT. WHITNEY 6
Luis Paniagua rushed for 178 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, Jordan Duran ran for 52 yards and two scores on six carries and Austin Heffner ran for a 35-yard touchdown on his only carry as Porterville rolled up 315 yards rushing. Porterville’s defense also had nine sacks, including the last one by Zach Ames that stopped a Mt. Whitney scoring threat late in the game.
“We ran the ball real well,” PHS coach Dennis Moody said. “Our offensive line played great. I liked how physical we were.”
Note: PHS varsity head coach Rick Stewart was not on the sideline as he served a suspension in which he will miss Porterville’s first two home games for a violation of California Interscholastic Federation rules, said Porterville Unified School District Athletic Director Richard Rankin. Stewart will be able to coach next week against Shafter, but will miss Porterville’s next home game against Robert F. Kennedy on Sept. 17.
