Portagers fall in opener to Pirates

Posted August 27th, 2011 by Dylan Savela
Manistee News Advocate

ONEKAMA — Onekama’s quarter-long, 19-play drive came up empty.

The Portagers’ Adrian Norman ran an intercepted pass for nearly 60 yards, but threw one of his own on the very next play.

And after forcing Hart into a three-and-out late in the fourth quarter, the Portagers couldn’t control the ball on the return, and the Pirates took their own punt to paydirt.

It seemed like every step forward was followed by two steps back Friday night, as Onekama lost its opener 21-12 to Hart.

“We definitely had our chances,” Portagers coach Jim Hunter said. “Unfortunately, they had some chances too and they capitalized a little bit more on theirs then we did on ours.

“Giving them opportunities hurt,” he added. “I’m not taking anything away from Hart, because they shot themselves in the foot a few times too, but I’m not happy that we beat ourselves.

“Not beating yourselves is how you beat the teams you can beat. I know it’s hard to do in high school. You’re going to make mistakes, but we made too many.”

For the first pair of drives Friday night in Onekama, the Portagers looked to be the most prepared of the two teams.

After they forced the Pirates to punt on just the fourth play, the Portagers took just three to get on the board when Tyler Fogarty capped off the drive with a 30-yard touchdown run as part of his team-leading 82 rushing yards on 13 carries.

But the 6-0 edge Onekama took at 8:40 in the first, would be its last lead of the game.

“Early in the game, we were moving the ball, getting big returns and ripping off a couple of long runs, but then things got tougher,” Hunter said. “They made some defensive adjustments and brought up a lot of guys in the box. We didn’t execute much on the passing plays that we tried, so they were able to take advantage.”

 The Pirates capped a successful second drive with a 38-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Vella to receiver Jordon Truxton. And by cashing in on an extra point took a 7-6 lead into the second quarter.

Vella made Hart’s second trip to the endzone on a one-yard rush with 4:58 to go before halftime to give his team a 14-6 advantage. He led the Pirates’ attack on the night, completing 8-of-9 passes for 110 yards, while running back Lucas Rombach rushed for a game-high 135 yards on the ground.

After the teams exchanged three-and-out drives to open the third quarter, the Portagers chipped away with a 19-play drive that took up the final eight minutes of the third and the first three of the fourth. However, Onekama couldn’t punch it in on a fourth-and-four in the redzone.

“That’s exactly the kind of drive you want,” Hunter said, “but we just couldn’t finish.”

Hart responded with 14-play drive that looked threatening with first-and-goal at the Onekama 7. But three plays later, Norman, a cornerback on the Onekama defense, intercepted Vella at the goal line and took the ball to Hart’s 38. The very next play, however, he threw a pick to the Pirates’ Truxton.

On the ensuing drive, Hart was forced to punt with 2:31 to go in the game, still up 14-6. The Portagers were unable to gather in the return and Vella took advantage, scooping the live ball and taking it to the end zone for a 21-6 lead.

The Portagers put together a two-play scoring drive in which Norman threw a 38-yard pass to Drew Slevin and followed with a seven-yard touchdown toss to tight end Tyler Johnson with 1:49 to go.

However, Hart was then able to let the clock run out for the victory.

“When it got to be crunch time we really stepped up and made some good stuff happen,” Pirates coach Steve Hlady said. “We did make mistakes in key situations too and that cost us at times. It was kind of a give-and-take from both teams there. It was a fun game to be part of — a fun game to coach.”

Norman finished the game 4-of-7 passing for 48 yards to go with 69 rushing yards on 17 carries for the Portagers. He and Fogarty led the way on defense too, recording seven and 16 tackles, respectively.

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