Hartnell struck for 40 unanswered points Saturday night on the way to a 40-21 Coast Conference victory over the host Gavilan Rams at Garcia-Elder Sports Complex.
The loss left Gavilan with a 1-2 conference mark, 2-6 overall, and effectively eliminated the Rams' need to play De Anza in a make-up contest for the game lost to a lighting malfunction at Gilroy High last month.
"We couldn't sustain any drives, couldn't convert any third downs," Gavilan head coach John Lango said of the Rams' four first downs against the Panthers.
"Our defense seemed to be on the field forever," Lango added. "We had two early picks and had good field position to help us get up 14-0. After that, we couldn't score. We shot ourselves in the foot on offense."
Hartnell improved to 3-1 by shaking off a 14-0 deficit after 6:29 of play.
Panther quarterback Dwayne Gatlin was intercepted by Arthur Pittman on the second play from scrimmage, putting Gavilan on the Hartnell 25. Mike Incardona passed 20 yards to Timothy Harvey before Sean Hale sped the final five yards to paydirt with 12:59 left in the quarter.
Pittman took off on a 66-yard interception return minutes later to give the Rams a first-and-goal at the Hartnell 6. Incardona made it 14-0 when he tossed a 7-yard pass to Harvey in the end zone and Gus Silva converted the point-after attempt.
Gavilan's scoring quieted until back-up quarterback Matt Edwards connected with Frank Lawson III for a 66-yard touchdown play with 42 seconds left in the game.
De Anza remained unbeaten in conference play at 3-0 with a win over West Valley, while San Jose City moved to 3-1 with a victory over Monterey Peninsula College. De Anza and San Jose City will meet Saturday night for the chance to earn a conference berth in a bowl game. Gavilan visits winless West Valley Saturday at 5 p.m. in the season finale.
The Panthers began their comeback with 1:51 left in the first quarter with a 22-yard Jorge Rico field goal.
Hartnell took a 17-14 lead into intermission off a 30-yard touchdown pass from Gatlin to Tim Smith and a 1-yard Kiero Small touchdown run.
Ricky Rodwell, who covered 179 yards on 28 carries, gave Hartnell a 23-14 lead with 2:45 left in the third quarter on a 14-yard run.
Smith earned his second touchdown of the night with an 11-yard catch off a Gatlin pass with 12:10 left in the game. Rico booted a 27-yard field goal for a 33-14 advantage, while Small added his second touchdown run from 16 yards out with 1:40 to play.
Gavilan finished with 211 yards of total offense, highlighted by Lawson's three catches for 144 yards. Incardona was limited to 59 yards on 7 of 22 passing.
Bob Burch Bob Burch covers sports for South Valley Newspapers.
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