For the fourth consecutive week, the Pacheco Panther football teams were on the road, this week in Modesto to battle the Johansen Vikings on Sept. 15.
The road warrior Panthers (2-2, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) claimed their first WAC victory 16-6 against the Vikings.
Coach Jerremy Siemiller said after the game, “It wasn’t our best performance, but we were able to come home with a win. Our defense really played well, Jesse (Garcia), Abel (Bravo) and Gabe (Setterberg) made play after play to shut them down.”
The Panthers surprised the Vikings on the very first play of the game, when Arturo Anguiano kicked an on-side kickoff and Pacheco’s Daniel Scott recovered it for the Panthers, giving his team great field position at the Viking 49 yard line.
From there it took Pacheco just six plays to score the first points of the game. Junior running back Abel Bravo finished the drive with a five-yard touchdown run, and when Arturo Anguiano kicked the conversion, the Panthers held a 7-0 lead.
The Vikings scored their only touchdown of the game on their next drive but missed the two-point conversion try..
The Panthers upped their lead to 10-6 just before halftime when Anguiano booted a 23-yard field goal to close out the first half scoring.
The Panther defense shut down the Viking offense the rest of the way, and when Abraham Fernandez scored on a 12-yard run late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers sealed the victory. The Panthers will finally play a home game at Veterans Stadium in Los Banos Sept. 23, when they host Lathrop.
The junior varsity Panthers (3-1, 1-0 WAC) returned home with a 14-0 shutout victory against the Vikings.
Zealand Hatcher had the play of the game for Pacheco when he intercepted a Viking pass and returned “the pick-six” 81 yards for a Panther touchdown. With the conversion kick, Pacheco held a 7-0 advantage.
Just before halftime, freshman quarterback Aiden Pikas connected with Hatcher on a 32 yard scoring strike and with the conversion kick the Panthers opened up a 14-0 lead.
Pacheco completely shut down the Vikings in the second half allowing just 32 total yards, and although the Panthers never scored again their 14 first half points were enough for the victory.
