East finishes season with huge win

By Curtis Marlin, Sports Writer

Published:

Friday, October 19, 2012 12:06 AM CDT

 

http://portlandleader.net/articles/2012/10/19/sports/13817059.txt

 

There was one big concern for Portland East coach Michael Reese heading into last Tuesday’s season finale with Knox Doss. How the Panthers would respond after a big win over city rival West the night before and having to play back-to-back games on consecutive nights?

Reese got his answer as the Purple snapped a 16-16 tie at intermission with two second half touchdowns en route to a 32-16 win over the Mustangs.

“I was worried,” Reese said afterwards. “I told them we could enjoy the West win after tonight’s game. It was asking a lot of the guys to play back-to-back games. But they did a good job the past two nights.”

Portland East drew first blood with a nine-play drive that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Dawson Simmons to Hunter Brown. Simmons and Brown also completed the two-point conversion pass and the Purple were on top 8-0 at the 3:36 mark.

The score was set up by a Nathan Lightfoot 14-yard run, a 12-yard gain by Austin Hardy, and a pass from Simmons to Hardy covering 27 yards.

Knox Doss came back to tie the game at 8-all as Keshawn Whitaker rambled five yards and Chris Peach added the two-point conversion with 7:36 left in the half.

The Panthers came right back as Lonnie White busted up the middle on a 57-yard touchdown run. Simmons completed the two-point pass to Brown and less than 30 seconds after the Mustang tying score, the Purple were back on top 16-8.

Knox Doss tallied late in the first half as Whitaker tossed a halfback pass to Steven Biggerstaff covering 13 yards and Whitaker added the two-point conversion run for a 16-16 deadlock at the break.

In the second half, it was all Portland East. On their second possession of the third quarter, Simmons capped a seven-play drive by throwing a 13-yard strike to Brown for the go-ahead score. Simmons bullied in for the two-point conversion and a 24-16 advantage.

After a series of defensive stands, including a fourth down sack of quarterback Colt Mahoney by Zane Gaither, the Panthers broke through again. Hardy’s 25-yard spring to paydirt and a Brown two-point conversion catch from Simmons upped the spread to 32-16 with 1:56 left in the contest.

Brown recovered another Mustang fumble late in the game and the Panthers ran out the clock and improved to 2-6 for the season.

“We started off bad but we got better each week,” Reese explained. “We told the guys at the start of the season you have to give effort in practice as well as in the games. We haven’t always done that this year. When you practice at game speed, you play at game speed. We kept fighting all year to get better.”

Simmons was 12 of 20 through the air for 109 yards with Brown making six receptions for 44 yards. Hardy totaled 54 yards on the ground and added three receptions for 55 yards. White led the ground attack with 61 yards on just four attempts.

East Middle ends its season 2-6.

East betters rival West in battle of Portland teams

PORTLAND — The Portland East Middle School football squad didn’t start the season strong.
However, Monday night’s clash with cross-town rival Portland West was a different story.
Portland East dominated the first half and held on for a 16-6 victory at Edgar Johnson Stadium.
“I’ve been coaching for five years, and I hope to be coaching for 30 more,” Portland East first-year head coach Michael Reese – whose squad earned its first win of the season – said. “I’m going to have wins and losses all my life, but I really, really, really wanted us to win for them to have a win, to show them the work has paid off.”

Reese’s squad scored on two of its first three possessions.
A fumbled exchange in the backfield on Portland West’s second possession was recovered by Portland East defensive lineman Dylan Kephart at the Portland West 21 yard line.
Following a five-yard penalty, Portland East quarterback Dawson Simmons threw a middle screen pass to wide receiver Hunter Brown, who maneuvered his way to the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown.

Simmons bulled his way through a pack of players and into the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt.
Portland West fumbled again on its next play from scrimmage, and Nathan Lightfoot recovered for Portland East.
Simmons completed passes on four of the following six plays, including a 20-yard gain to Austin Hardy.
On a fourth-and-six play from the 10 yard line, Hardy made a falling catch in the end zone, and that duo connected on the conversion pass as well, creating a 16-point margin late in the first quarter.
Simmons completed 12 of 21 passes for 105 yards, and Brown, Hardy and Lightfoot all caught four passes.
“We’ve been working on a lot of that the last couple of weeks,” Reese said of the team’s no-huddle, spread offense. “It helped with the game getting pushed back (due to rain last Tuesday, which postponed it until Monday), giving us more time to work on some things.”
Brown recovered a fumble on Portland West’s next offensive possession, but it didn’t lead to another touchdown.
“At any level of football, if you make mistakes and have turnovers, it’s going to be hard to win a football game,” Portland West head coach Kyle Lane said. “We made mistakes, and they capitalized. It’s what good teams do.”
Portland West’s Austin Mullen intercepted a pass deep in his own territory later in the half, and Portland West then mounted a 15-play drive that lasted for the final 5:11 of the half.
Cody Ward had three first-down carries on the possession, and Trevor Settles’ 6-yard run with less than a minute remaining moved the football to the Portland East 7 yard line.

Big stuff

However, on the final play of the half (a fourth-and-goal play), Portland West quarterback Dalton Smallwood was tackled by Kephart and Nic Watson for no gain at the 1 yard line.
“I didn’t have a timeout there,” Lane said. “It was fourth down, and we just didn’t get in. They made a great effort. Our quarterback gave good effort. We just didn’t get in.”
Portland West defensive back Carter Hunt intercepted a deflected pass on the opening possession of the second half, and the two teams traded punts before Portland West’s offense threatened again, putting together a 13-play progression that covered 86 yards.
That series included carries of 17 and 12 yards by Settles and completions of 20 and 17 yards to Settles before he left the game due to an injury.
A third-down sack by Brown and Kephart created a fourth-and-13 play from the Portland East 18 yard line, and though Braxton Bolding caught a pass on the fourth-down play, he was tackled two yards short of the first down.
“Cody Ward got to play (on Monday) for the first time since week 2, the Hawkins game,” Lane – whose squad remained winless with the loss – said. “He gives us that speed element. Cody was picking up some yards, but East did a good job of stopping our jet sweep. That’s one of our big-play plays.
“When you don’t get that 30- or 40-yard gain, it’s hard to punch it in at this level in middle school.”
Reese added, “Our two biggest things was don’t give them anything. Make them earn it, and if they do get something, pick each other up. When we did have things go wrong, I saw a lot of patting on the back. A bad thing happened. They drove down the field. We could have laid down right there, but we kept fighting.”
Portland West regained possession with 62 seconds remaining and scored three plays later, on a 15-yard pass from Smallwood to Ryan Smith.
However, Bolding was forced out of bounds by Ryan Brewster on the conversion run, and Portland East’s Zane Gaither recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the win.
Ward finished with a game-high 68 yards rushing on 12 carries, and Settles carried the football nine times for 51 yards and caught two passes for 37 yards. Smith also caught two passes, and Smallwood completed 5 of 11 passes for 71 yards.

Ending with a win

Portland East concluded its season by winning for the second straight evening, capturing a 32-16 victory over visiting Knox Doss Middle at Drakes Creek on Tuesday evening at Edgar Johnson Stadium.
The contest was tied at 16 at halftime.
Simmons threw a pair of touchdown passes to Brown, a 15-yarder in the first quarter and an 18-yarder to place the host squad in front in the third.
Lonnie White had a 57-yard touchdown run for Portland East in the second quarter, and teammate Austin Hardy ripped off a 30-yard scoring run in the final period.
The Panthers were successful on all four two-point conversion attempts, with Simmons throwing two conversion passes to Brown, another to Nathan Lightfoot and running one into the end zone.
Keshawn Whitaker had a hand in both touchdowns for the Mustangs, producing a 10-yard TD run in the first quarter and throwing a 26-yard, halfback pass to Steven Biggerstaff for a second-quarter score.
Chris Peach had successful two-point conversion runs following each touchdown.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121012/GALLATIN02/310120044/East-betters-rival-West-battle-Portland-teams

Written by

Craig Harris

Gallatin News Examiner

East Middle earns 2012 bragging rights

East Panthers fight to 16-6 finish over cross-town rival West Middle

By Rich Cook, Sports Writer

Published:

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 7:07 AM CDT

 

The Portland East Panthers struck twice in the first quarter Monday, Oct. 8, against Portland West, putting up 16 points on the scoreboard and rode that margin to their first victory of the season.

The East/West rivalry game was scheduled for Oct. 2, but was postponed to preserve good field conditions for the PHS Homecoming game. East Middle coach Michael Reese put the extra practice days to good use.

“The extra time to work on this game helped a ton,” he said. “We have been working on the no-huddle offense for a while and had a pretty good idea about how West would line up against us. The kids did a great job of not having any mental mistakes when we were in our hurry-up offense.”

While West was again plagued with early turnovers, fumbling away three of its first four possessions, the East Panthers capitalized. With just under four minutes to go in the first quarter, East quarterback Dawson Simmons hit Hunter Brown over the middle with a short pass from the West 26, then brown scampered into the end zone.

Less than two minutes later, on the sixth straight passing play from Simmons, the East QB connected with Austin Hardy. With 2:02 left in the first, Portland East led 16-0.

West threatened in the second quarter. Austin Mullen intercepted a Simmons pass at the West 24 yard line. Coach Kyle Lane’s squad used the final 5:11 of the quarter to march down the field, taking 15 plays to reach the East’s 1-yard line. West had first and goal at the 8 and pounded the ball with its running game, but failed to reach the goal line in four tries.

“We ran a couple of power plays with our Dalton (Smallwood, West’s quarterback),” Lane said. “He is our best short yardage runner. In that situation we will sometimes run sweeps, but East had done a really good job of stopping those, so we felt the power running game was our best option. We were out of timeouts and we were having to rush. I don't think it was a momentum killer, but at game’s end, that extra score could have been a difference maker.”

At the break, East led 16-0. That’s the way the score remained until the final minute of the fourth. East punted from its end zone, giving West incredible field position at the 15. On third down Smallwood passed to Ryan Smith for West’s only score, 16-6.

“Our defensive tackles (Danny Stout and Darrius Copeland) and inside linebackers (Zane Gaither and Lonnie White) did a great job of reading their keys,” said East’s Reese. “The thing I was most happy with on defense was all 11 of them were getting to the football all night. That’s what kept West out on the goal line at the end of the half and also on their conversion attempt (at game’s end).”

Lane was pleased with his defensive effort after the two East scores in the first quarter.

“After we stopped fumbling, the defense was able to play with better field position,” he noted. “We recorded two interceptions and tackled well. The defense could have benefited from more offensive consistency. However, they rode the momentum waves of the game and continued to play football. My hat goes off to Coach Reese and the East Panthers. They played a great game and are well deserving of this victory. Obviously we really wanted to win, but life doesn't always give us what we want. At the end of the day our players are learning things about themselves through defeat and we are all growing as men.”

West closes out the season at Rucker-Stewart Tuesday, October 9. East finishes the same night at home against Knox-Doss.

East Beats West 16-6!