Prep football Week 4: Perryman lifts Hanford; Washington tops Roosevelt

For a player expected to be Ryan Johnson’s playmaking receiver, Jordan Perryman has turned into a standout running back in the absence of Hanford High’s star quarterback.

Perryman scored five touchdowns – four rushing – to lead the defending Central Section Division III and CIF State Division IV-AA champions to a 40-22 victory over Porterville on Thursday at Neighbor Bowl.

Perryman rushed for 95 yards on 13 carries and caught four passes for 26 yards as Hanford continues to regroup without Johnson, the San Jose State-bound senior who suffered a season-ending knee injury during an opening week loss to Buchanan.

Perryman, a cousin of last season’s All-Bee selection Allen Perryman of Lemoore, transferred from the neighboring town and was immediately eligible to play because of a full family move to Hanford.

“Ever since our quarterback went down in the first game, we’ve had to make some adjustments, but we’re back on track.” said Perryman, who has shouldered more of the rushing load because of an injury to No. 1 running back Tyrace Richardson, who returned Thursday. “Ever since I was in youth, I’ve played running back. I just had to get used to it again.”

With a combined 551 yards rushing and receiving and 10 touchdowns so far, Perryman has helped ease the loss of Johnson, who underwent surgery on his knee Wednesday in Fresno. Johnson, who has helped lead Hanford to a combined four section titles in football and basketball, said recovery is expected to take six to eight months.

“We’re getting better week by week and I think you can see that tonight,” Hanford coach Josh Young said. “Our receivers have been great. Obviously we’re not throwing the ball as much as we probably normally would, so those guys have been able to run the ball. Jordan has been fantastic. I think he has the ability to score any time he has the ball. We’re finding a way to get it done and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Perryman’s final two touchdowns, a 13-yard run in the third quarter and off a 25-yard pass from Theron Dutra in the fourth, helped Hanford (2-2) put away Porterville.

His first three touchdowns, on runs of 4, 15 and 13 yards, allowed the Bullpups to open a 20-14 lead in the first half.

Hanford also received a 63-yard scoring strike form Dutra to Leonard Glass in the third quarter.

Porterville (1-2) kept it close in the first half on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Scott Borman to Michael Herrera and a 1-yard Andru Chavez scoring run, but didn’t score again until late in the fourth quarter when Chavez caught a 90-yard touchdown from Robert Jimenez.

Washington 29, Roosevelt 28

Victor Nava’s fourth touchdown pass brought the Panthers (1-3) within one in overtime and Nava passed to CJ Farley for a 2-point conversion to beat the Rough Riders (0-4) at Sunnyside Stadium.

Howard Maxwell rushed for three touchdowns for Roosevelt, including a 7-yard run with 13 seconds left to tie the score and a TD in overtime.

Ronnie Griffin caught two TD passes for Washington including the one in overtime. Nava was 14 of 25 for 272 yards.​

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 12:58 AM with the headline "Prep football Week 4: Perryman lifts Hanford; Washington tops Roosevelt."