Portagers rout Panthers for first win

Posted by Dylan Savela
Manistee News Advocate, September 16, 2011

ONEKAMA — Both sides were in agreement — the turning point was clear.

Baldwin threatened late in the first half Friday night to gain ground on Onekama’s 20-8 lead, but the Portagers’ defense held strong, and with just a minute on the clock, let the offense take over on their own 14.

Six plays later, Onekama’s Tyler Fogarty was airborne across the goal line with zeros on the clock. The last-second score gave the Portagers a 28-8 advantage at the break that turned to a 56-14 West Michigan D League rout for their first win of the season.

“That was critical,” Onekama coach Jim Hunter said of the last two possessions of the first half. “Really, the turning point was that defensive stand at the end of the second quarter — and before then they were being more physical than us, especially their fullback (C. J. Sidock) was just killing us — but we stopped them on a couple plays and they couldn’t finish the deal. We turned around and scored, and I mean, if they score, we’re going in the locker room up 20-14 and that’s a whole different game.”

Baldwin coach Doug Bolles cited the same set of series in the loss.

“If we would have scored at the end of first half — if we would have punched it in — and then kept them from scoring and got the ball to start the second half, it would have been different,” he said. “That was a huge shift in momentum. For us, it was a huge mental letdown.”

Instead, Onekama rode the momentum through the duration, scoring 22 third-quarter points for the huge cushion.

Running back Quinn Matthews had a career game for the Portagers, rushing for three touchdowns with 235 yards on the ground on 15 carries as well as reaching pay-dirt in the fourth quarter on an 80-yard kickoff return.

“Our linemen are stepping up,” Matthews said of his big offensive day. “We’ve been practicing harder and harder. It finally feels good to ring that victory bell.”

Onekama quarterback Adrian Norman also had success on both sides of the ball, throwing for 38 yards on 3-of-7 passing with a touchdown toss and rushing for 40 yards and a score. Defensively, Norman had two interceptions and returned a Panther fumble for a touchdown.

The Portagers were quick to score in the contest when Matthews capped a three-play opening drive at 10:44 in the first with a 50-yard run to the end-zone. Norman punched in the two-point conversion for the 8-0 lead.

Article by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate

 Norman then made it 14-0 with a 5-yard touchdown rush on the first play in the second quarter, after the Portagers took advantage of a failed Baldwin punt play that put the Onekama offense at the Panthers’ 10-yard line.

Baldwin back C. J. Sidock, who finished the game with 74 yards on 13 carries, put his team on the board after doing much of the damage during a 14-play drive. He capped it by punching in a 1-yard score, which was followed by quarterback Brandon Childress’ two-point pass to cut the Onekama (1-3) lead to 14-8 with 6:12 to play in the half.

Matthews responded with his second touchdown at 2:22 on a 16-yard run, to make it 20-8.

Sidock gave Baldwin a great opportunity to score on the next drive with a 34-yard rush on the first play. But, the Panthers failed to get any closer than Onekama’s 19-yard line.

After Baldwin turned over the ball on downs with just 1:04 left, the Onekama offense picked up huge chunks of yards on four straight rushes, and a Panther pass interference call gave them 1st-and-10 on the 13-yard line.

Fogarty, who rushed for 95 yards on 19 carries to go with 21 tackles on the night, took a pass in the flats from Norman and dove into the end-zone with no time left on the clock.

The second half was all Onekama’s as Matthews scored a third rushing touchdown at 7:28 in the third on a 28-yard run, Norman took a recovered fumble 40 yards to pay-dirt on Baldwin’s ensuing drive and Fogarty rushed in from the Baldwin 7 at 1:30 to make it 50-8.

“We didn’t change anything,” Hunter said of the team’s best offensive production this season. “Physically, we just matched up a little better up front today.”

Childress scored Baldwin’s second score at 10:17 in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard quarterback keep, but on the ensuing kickoff Matthews made his fourth trip to the end-zone for Onekama on an 80-yard return.

“We just weren’t tough up front,” Bolles said of the second- half let down. “Once it got to be that big spread again, it seemed like we just rolled. We hung our heads, and they kept putting it to us.

“Our key word this year is accountability,” he added. “It’s each player doing their job for the team. We’ve got a lot of young guys, but they’ve got to trust what the coaches are teaching them, and we’ll be all right.”

Baldwin’s Hunter Nichols was the team’s second-leading rusher with 41 yards on eight carries while Childress finished the game with 46 yards on 7-for-12 passing. Andon Ware led the team in tackles with 10.

For the Portagers, the win is a monkey off the back after an 0-3 start. And since it is the first game in league play, it’s a perfect time start anew.

“Right now we’re on top of the league with whoever else has won,” Hunter said, “and that’s where we want to stay.”

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