Barton’s return helps spark Pacheco’s Crosstown Clash victory

It looked as if Aric Barton’s first Crosstown Clash might be a short one.

The Pacheco High School sophomore quarterback hit his head on the very hard Veterans Stadium turf, exiting on the Panthers’ second offensive series Friday night against Los Banos. Barton was cleared for a concussion, but with backup Carl Schofield executing the offense well, the coaching staff held him out as a precaution.

It only made Barton’s return to the game all the more triumphant.

Schofield got banged up on a face mask penalty just before halftime, opening the door for Barton. He seized the chance, throwing a touchdown pass that put the Panthers ahead for good on his first play back and breaking open what became a 41-30 Pacheco victory with two long touchdown runs in the third quarter.

Barton (seven carries for 128 yards) was one of three Panthers to break the 100-yard rushing mark as Pacheco (5-5, 4-2) finished third in the Western Athletic Conference, knocking playoff-bound Los Banos (6-4, 3-3) into fourth.

“That was the total team effort we’ve been looking for, on both sides of the ball,” Pacheco coach David Snapp said. “We unfortunately figured it out a little late, but this team came together and really began playing for each other.

“Barton gets knocked out of the game and Schofield goes in and does a great job. Schofield gets hurt and Barton steps right back in. The guys played for the name on the front of the jersey tonight and not the name on the back of it.”

After racking up more than 500 yards per game in their last four outings, the Panthers were confident they could move the ball against a struggling Los Banos defense. The question was whether the often-porous Pacheco defense could slow the Tigers’ vaunted attack.

The Panthers answered the challenge on both sides.

Behind an offensive line that owned the line of scrimmage, the Pacheco offense moved the ball at will. The Panthers rushed 56 times for 356 yards and didn’t punt, jumping out to a 14-0 lead with scores on their first two possessions.

Carlos Garcia (18 carries, 113 yards) finished a 65-yard, game-opening drive with a two-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0. TK Teneng (20 carries, 174 yards) doubled the lead with a two-yard scoring run five minutes later.

Los Banos settled down and answered right back, taking a brief lead.

Adam Herrera closed the opening quarter with a two-yard touchdown run, and Daniel Fernandez punched it in from a yard on the Tigers’ next possession. A two-point conversion gave Los Banos a 15-14 lead, which the Tigers looked poised to take into halftime after Pacheco missed a late field-goal attempt.

Instead of running out the final 41 seconds, Los Banos went to the air. Christian Corral’s pass attempt was intercepted by Alijah Siordia, who returned it to the Tigers’ 20-yard line. Two plays later, Barton found Garcia for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 1.1 seconds left, giving Pacheco a 20-15 halftime lead.

“I think that was the play the turned the game our way,” Barton said. “Getting that interception and then scoring just before the half gave us a lot of momentum.

“We knew their offense is pretty good and that we still had a lot of work to do, but the talk at halftime was keeping the throttle down.”

Sloppiness with the ball was a major factor in Los Banos having dropped two of three games entering Friday night and bit the Tigers again in a decisive third quarter.

The Tigers fumbled the first three times they touched the ball in the second half, two on kick returns. Pacheco showed its killer instinct, burning the Tigers’ defense for long touchdown runs after each one.

Teneng got things started, breaking a 58-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage of the second half. Barton added scoring runs of 57 and 44 yards as the Panthers produced 21 points in just over 4 1/2 minutes, taking a 41-15 lead.

“You can’t turn the ball over like that and expect good things to happen,” Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso said. “We fumble the opening kickoff of the second half after a really good return. Then we fumble going in on our next drive and have one of our up men get hit by the ball on the very next kickoff. You have to give Pacheco credit for how they took advantage.

“I was pleased to see some fight in the kids. We could have folded at 41-15 but got a couple touchdowns and gave ourselves a chance.”

Herrera and Fernandez had touchdown runs to trim the lead to 41-30 with 6:21 to play. The Tigers just couldn’t get Pacheco off the field to make a genuine comeback bid.

“We’ve had some pretty good offensive lines in our four years, but I don’t know if any have been better than this one,” Snapp said. “We haven’t been in a position where we needed to chew up clock at the end of a game, but those guys did a great job. We converted a bunch of third downs on our last drive.

“We eventually stalled out on fourth down, but they didn’t have enough time left to really do anything.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 1:14 AM with the headline "Barton’s return helps spark Pacheco’s Crosstown Clash victory."