Football Tour XVII Hartnell

Hartnell

 The first thing that gets your attention is their size. These are not boys anymore, but young men that will punish anything in their path.
 The Panthers are huge up front, which bodes well for an offense that could be explosive and balanced.
 DeAndre Mann and his 17 rushing touchdowns are back. The passing game should be stronger with either Curt Ceralde or freshman Michael Turner behind center.
 Defensively, the Panthers have an Aldon Smith clone in sophomore pass rusher Kapil Fletcher, who discovered Hartnell watching Monday Night Football.
 The 6-foot-4, 260-pounder never played football until last year when he moved 3,000 miles from home to don his first uniform, recording six sacks for the defending conference champions.
 Sharing the Coast Conference title for the second straight year is fine. But taking that next step starts with the ability to finish games.
 Last season the Panthers let a 21-point fourth quarter lead slip away to Saturday's opponent in Las Medanos, falling in overtime.
 There was also the 23-20 loss to Laney in which Hartnell gave up 13 unanswered fourth quarter points.
 Reverse that and the Panthers are 8-2 instead of 6-4.
 Yet, what might eat at Hartnell more than anything was failing to complete an undefeated conference season, falling to rival MPC 28-3, ultimately costing them a bowl game.
 Returning guard Tyler Isbill felt the chemistry wasn't always there, that there was some selfishness. That's not acceptable this fall.
Watch an interview with coach Matt Collins.