Palo Verde faced Reno in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. The Panthers fell 25-19 to the Huskies. The Panthers just can't catch a break and have now endured five defeats in a row dating back to last season.
Palo Verde's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of X'Zavier McZeal, who picked up 90 receiving yards and one TD, and Darrek Walker, who rushed for 68 yards. McZeal really caught the secondary sleeping when he pulled down a catch that went for 83 yards. Speaking of playmakers, who could forget Leo Templeton, who went all the way with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Most of the squad's points came courtesy of special teams, who contributed 11 in total. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Templeton, who ran a kickoff back for a touchdown.
Jackson Mathews was nothing short of spectacular for Reno: he rushed for 216 yards and three scores while picking up 7.2 yards per carry, and also caught one touchdown. Those 216 rushing yards gave Mathews a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Andre Daniels III, who rushed for 103 yards on only 14 carries.
Palo Verde's defeat dropped their record down to 0-2.
After each having a week off, Palo Verde and Green Valley will shake off the cobwebs and hit the field against one another at 6:00 p.m. on the 5th. As for Reno, they didn't take long to hit the field again: they've already played their next game, a 35-20 victory against Foothill on the 29th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
