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Sports

Panthers Hope to Bounce Back Against Panorama in Home Opener

Franklin will test out their freshly re-sod field in its first home game of the season.

football team can shed the disappoint from last week’s down to the wire game against Roosevelt High School, with a win over Panorama High School in their first home game of the season tonight.

The Panthers (2-1) offensive struggles, both in the air and on the ground, was a major factor in the 19-14 loss. Assistant coach Eric Valdez said they are still working on getting replacement quarterback Joshua Taylor comfortable in the pocket.

“If he gets into a rhythm, we should be fine. It’s all about making him comfortable and shaking those jitters from last week, so hopefully he got them out,” Valdez said.

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Taylor stepped into the position after starting quarterback Edwin Camas was injured in the teams’

OUTLOOK

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For the second consecutive week, FHS will go up against a squad that holds a size advantage over the noticeably small Franklin team.

“They are a good team, have very good size and we’re going to be in another ballgame like we were last week,” Valdez said of the expected mismatches.

Panorama (0-3) comes into the non-league matchup searching for its first victory of the season. They have lost their last two contests by 46 points combined.

Franklin emerged victorious over the Pythons in a 27-8 win on the road in the two teams last meeting.

KEY PLAYERS

Franklin’s secondary may have their hands full if Panorama quarterback Enrique Camacho mirrors last week’s performance against University High School. The senior completed 5-of-15 passes for 125 yards, including a 75-yard toss.

They’ll also have to keep eyes on tight end Andrew Cabrera and running back Cristian Gonzalez, who each totaled over 100 yards in their last outing.

For FHS, Taylor likes to run with the ball and can be a threat if he can manage to make it out of his own backfield. He’s quick and agile with the ability to make long gains on the ground.

DEFENSE

The Panthers will have to do a better job defending the run then they did last Friday night. The team was hitting their spots, they just weren’t making the tackles.

Collectively, the Franklin defense allowed Roosevelt to amass 291 yards rushing. The Panorama offense is currently averaging 170.3 rushing yards per game.

 Valdez said, “We looked fine, we went over a bunch of tackling drills this week, so we’ll see if it paid off.”

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