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Portagers Get First Win Under
the Lights!
As expected, the match up with Manistee Catholic Central turned out to
be the Defensive Battle that everyone thought it would be… plus more,
but when the final horn sounded, it was Onekama/Bear Lake that came out
on top! With their 16 to 6 victory over the Sabers, the Portagers
improved their record to 5 and 0, and with just one game left, the win
assured them the League Championship title. Along with that, the young
Portagers will also have another great memory (and bragging rights) of
being the first football team to post a victory under the new lights!
For the record, the win did not come easy, on the opening series, it
looked like the Portagers were going to walk right down the field, but
the Sabers had other thoughts. With the Portagers threatening to score,
the Sabers held their ground and forced the Portagers to turn the ball
over on downs in the red zone… and with that, the defensive battle
began! Behind a blitzing assault from Jacob Florian and Josh Santa, the
Portagers returned the favor and forced the Sabers to punt. This battle
went on back and forth and at the end of the 1st QTR the game was still
scoreless. |
In
the 2nd QTR, the Portager's offensive line kicked it into gear, and they
were finally able to get on the board when Florian busted in for a TD,
and Quinn Matthews converted the 2pt conversion. Once again MCC fought
back, and behind some solid running of their own, they put 6 pts on the
board, but they were denied the conversion and at the end of the half it
was 8-6.
After fumbling the 2nd half
kick off, the Portager defense was back on the field, but they held
their ground and the offense took control on the Saber 10 yd line and on
the first play, Florian took the quick pitch from Bryce Reckow and
scooted 83 yds, all way down to the 7 yd line. Two plays later, Matthews
was in for the second score and Florian added some needed cushion with
the 2pt conversion. At that point the score was 16 to 6, where it stayed
for the remainder of the game.
Defensively, Santa, Florian and Matthews led the tackling chart with 26
take downs between the three of them. Joe Eno, Josh Jacobs and Logan
Fogarty also added another 16 tackles to the chart. Offensively, Florian
ran for 153 yds on 14 carriers (1TD, 1PA), followed by Matthews with 53
yds on 12 carries (1TD, 1PA).
~Coach Matthews |
