Hargis’ big day helps Foothill hold off Palo Verde

Brandon Hargis scored three touchdowns for Foothill against visiting Palo Verde on Friday night, but the Falcons needed a little bit more from their speedy wideout in the waning moments of the game to secure a victory.

The Falcons, clinging to a 21-14 lead, punted to the Panthers on fourth down with 20 seconds left . But Hargis, who doubles as the long-snapper, recovered a muff with seven seconds left to clinch the seven-point victory.

“They just moved me to long snapper, so my main focus was just to try to get the ball to our punter,” said Hargis. “So then I was just running down as fast as I could, and I saw that they put their best running back was the returner.

“So I just started sprinting for him, and luckily he dropped it and I just picked it up.”

The fumble recovery was the last of Hargis’ contributions for the Falcons, who suffered some key injuries in the second half against Palo Verde and its ruthless rushing attack.

Hargis had five receptions for 133 yards and two touchdown grabs for Foothill (2-2). He hauled in a 57-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 3:36 left in the first quarter, and put the Falcons ahead for good with a 28-yard touchdown run in the second stanza.

Hargis added a 9-yard touchdown catch with 1:40 left in the third quarter, too, on a high-arching pass from quarterback Jordan Wilson.

“I watched him throw it up there, and I jumped up to catch it, and I hoped I got one foot in,” Hargis said. “And I did.”

Wilson went down with a leg injury on Foothill’s next series, though. And that was after running back Blake Wilson and lineman Jackson Reynolds had already left the game with injuries.

The Panthers reached the red zone on their ensuing drive, but turned the ball over on downs after penalties negated a pair of rushing touchdowns.

“They had been running the ball well the entire game. I think it just took us digging in in the fourth quarter,” Hargis said.

Jonathan Schofield tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Bleshe on Palo Verde’s next possession pull the Panthers within a touchdown on the next drive, but their comeback attempt fell short.

Palo Verde running back Chamere Thomas ran for a game-high 115 yards on 12 carries. Schofield added 99 rushing yards on 18 carries in helping Palo Verde rush for 326 yards.

Hargis said the win could be a stepping stone of sorts for the Falcons.

“It took us a little bit for us to get going. But I think now we finally started to get clicking,” Hargis said. “And I think it’s going to be like that for the rest of the year.”