Bryan County was missing several players, including five who were suspended after last week’s fight at Savannah High, and it showed as the Redskins dropped a 20-8 decision to Portal last Friday night at Redskins Stadium.
For Bryan County (2-2, 1-1) it wasn’t necessarily numbers when it came to the missing but rather a case of who and it showed as Portal (2-2, 1-1) used three explosive plays to make the difference in the Region 3A-DII game.
It was not the prettiest of games as both teams were plagued by a plethora of penalties, seemingly more costly to the Redskins who saw a three-game winning streak against the Panthers snapped.
Portal struck for two long touchdown runs in the second quarter and then relied on its defense to hold the Redskins at bay as it extended its lead in the series to 18-12. The two first played one another in 1976 the year each started football.
Among the notable missing Redskins were all-region cornerback Elijah Mincey who suffered a knee injury against Savannah and middle linebacker and starting left tackle Corey Collier who had an interception return for a touchdown against the Blue Jackets before going out with a sprained shoulder.
Coach Cherard Freeman said there’s no time table for Mincey’s return while Collier could possibly return for Friday night’s game at Emanuel County Institute (2-2, 0-2).
Junior safety Ger’bravion Collins along with cornerbacks Chris Winfree and Mike Smith were among those not seeing action which forced younger, less experienced players to fill the gap and it showed on all three of the Panthers’ scores.
“I want to emphasize I’m not making excuses,” Freeman said. “Portal came in here and won a football game. We had a lot of young guys on the field tonight and it is our responsibility as a coaching staff to do a better job.
“When we put young guys on the field, we’ve got to get them ready to play and they weren’t ready and I take the blame for that,” Freeman said. “Not only that but every time we got the ball moving a flag would come out. We had 90 yards in penalties at halftime.”
In a matchup of region champions—Bryan County won Region 3A-DI and Portal won 3A-DII last year—who now find themselves in the same region due to reclassification the Panthers got all the points they needed in the second quarter on two backbreaking plays.
After a scoreless first quarter Harold Washington broke loose for a 70-yard scoring run on the Panthers’ first possession of the second quarter. Hayden Scott kicked the extra point with 8:12 left in the half.
Portal had gained possession of the ball at its own 32-yard line when Kobe Burroughs recovered a Bryan County fumble. After a two-yard loss the Panthers ran a counter play to the left side and with a wall of blockers sealing off any possible pursuit Washington outraced everyone to the end zone.
The Panthers got the ball back with 2:21 on the clock and on third-and-nine Bryan McQueen reeled off an 84-yard run down the right sideline following an excellent fake to give his team all the points it needed.
The depleted Redskins lineup, Freeman said, had a freshman at cornerback, a freshman outside linebacker and a sophomore at outside linebacker playing in their first varsity games along with a sophomore wingback and sophomore fullback who had not played running back before.
“We had a lot of moving parts this week,” Freeman said. “The bottom line, though, is [that] Portal executed and we didn’t.”
On a night laced with intermittent light showers the Panthers put the game on nicely when a wide-open Zion Lanier hauled in a 31-yard pass from Chase Smith with 8;27 left in the third quarter following an interception by Burroughs making it 20-0.
Bryan County got on the board with 3:54 to play when Cooper Ennis scored on a 4-yard run. Trevor Lanier ran it in on the conversion attempt.
Anddreas McKinny, forced to shoulder the bulk of the running game with Collins and Gaige Javis out, had 153 yards on 29 attempts.