THE PANTHERS were left heartbroken again after another tough loss.

If moral victories counted for anything, Benicia High’s varsity football team would be 2-0 this season. But broken hearts do count in the standings, and the Panthers find themselves 0-2 after a frustrating 38-21 loss to McClymonds at Drolette Stadium on Friday.

It’s been a tough opening road for the Panthers, who began their journey with a one-point defeat against Concord (ranked No. 10 in the East Bay) in Week 0. Benicia failed on a 2-point conversion with 23 seconds left in the loss to the Minutemen. Friday’s loss against No. 17 McClymonds – a team that went undefeated on the field last year – was just as painful as the Warriors rolled off three unanswered touchdowns in the final 8:04 to pull off the comeback victory.

“We’re all playing good but things aren’t coming out as we’d hoped,” said Benicia senior linebacker Kyle Hanson-Regalado.

A 34-yard pass from Devin Holden to Jason Shelley set up Cavon Etter for a 2-yard touchdown run that gave Benicia a 21-16 lead with 10:05 left to play. McClymonds answered right back when quarterback Emoni Fountain found Derek Purvis open 1-on-1 deep for a 52-yard touchdown pass that put the Warriors ahead to stay.

“All of a sudden our momentum went bye bye,” said Benicia head coach Craig Holden. “We can’t give up those kinds of big plays after we’ve taken the lead.”

The Panthers turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and McClymonds junior Jerrell Alberty broke off a 38-yard run to set up his own short TD plunge to make it 31-21 with 5:15 remaining. Alberty put Benicia away with his fourth TD run of the night, an 8-yard score with 23.7 seconds left.

Alberty was a workhorse for the Warriors with 31 carries for 292 yards. McClymonds rushed for 379 yards overall in its season opener and wore down the smaller Panthers. Holden, filling in for injured quarterback Riley Pitkin, was sacked 12 times as Benicia amounted only five yards rushing.

“Their line was big and they controlled the line of scrimmage,” coach Holden said. “We couldn’t really run the ball against them and Devin was running for his life back there. He made some nice throws and Jason (Shelley) made some nice catches, but you give up 12 sacks and that puts you in a hole all night.”

Shelley and Holden hooked up for a 6-yard TD pass that gave Benicia a 14-9 lead early in the third quarter. Holden also found Alex Osterholt for a short TD pass and completed 14-of-26 passes for 148 yards and no interceptions.

“It seemed like we were scared at first but we started playing better once we realized we could hang with them,” said Hanson-Regalado, who had an interception and made a big tackle on a fake punt attempt by the Warriors.

But there was no stopping Alberty, who became the second running back in as many weeks to rush for 200-plus yards against the Panthers.

“He was a big load and their line was humongous,” coach Holden said. “They just leaned on us and leaned on us and finally they caught a couple breaks.”

McClymonds recorded a safety with 59 seconds left in the first half when a bad snap sailed over the head of Benicia punter Kyle Sinclair and went out of the back of the end zone. The Panthers turned the ball over on downs five times and McClymonds committed 16 penalties for 159 yards.

The Panthers take to the road for the first time this season when they travel to Santa Rosa this coming Friday to face Maria Carrillo (1-1).

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