PORTAL - For a half, Portal and Jenkins County appeared ready to deliver another thriller at the Portal Athletic Complex, but a dominant second half from Jenkins County saw the War Eagles pull away for an 48-19 victory Friday night.
Friday’s game didn’t quite have the stakes of the last time the two schools met in the regular season finale of 2023. That game saw Portal win 36-34 in overtime to clinch the school’s first football region championship in team history.
Friday's game was delayed more than 10 minutes early in the fourth quarter as a Portal player was injured on a running play. Paramedics strapped him to a body board and lifted him onto a stretcher, loading him into the ambulance for further treatment. It was unclear at press time what the injury was or his condition, but he was able to speak and move his fingers and toes.
“Priority number one is we’re worried about our player,” said Portal Head Coach Jason McEachin. “I’m not going to mention his name, but we’re going to go check on him as fast as possible.”
Following the injury, emotions were running high on the Portal sideline as players had to be contained and coaches tried to calm down the Panther sideline.
“Our response to adversity is the whole key,” McEachin told his team following the game. “Do we want to continue the process of getting better and trying to win the next one? Or are we going to let this define us? It’s up to us as a program to decide if we let tonight’s performance define us or not. They’ve got to decide over the weekend and on Monday we have to show up and get back to work.”
Leading by eight at halftime, the War Eagles (2-1, 1-0) were able to shut down the Portal offense while adding three second half touchdowns to put the game out of reach, with their final touchdown coming with 11:17 remaining in the game.
“Our fundamentals are still not good enough,” McEachin said. “We weren’t in the right spot too many times. We missed too many tackles and we didn’t execute well enough on offense.”
“We’re a team that’s still not where we want to be. Bottom line. I’ve got to coach better,” he said.
Jenkins County jumped out to an early 12-0 lead, scoring on their first two possessions to open the game sandwiched around a fake punt by the Panthers that was unsuccessful.
However, the Panthers would respond on their second possession when senior quarterback Chase Smith found Brian McQueen wide open behind the defense. His lofted pass found McQueen in stride as he coasted into the end zone to trim the lead to 12-7 following Hayden Scott’s PAT.
The Panthers (1-2, 0-1) attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, but the War Eagles recovered, setting Jenkins County up with excellent field position. However, a fumbled snap on the War Eagles' first play of the drive was recovered by Portal’s Jaylon Strickland at the Jenkins County 41.
Four plays later, the Panther offensive line would create a hole on the left and Smith was able to score from two-yards out to put Portal ahead 13-12 following a failed PAT.
The War Eagles would answer late in the first quarter going 75 yards in five plays, capped off with a three yard score by Ge’marion Newton to put Jenkins County ahead 20-13.
On the second play of the second quarter, Smith and McQueen would connect again, this time on a 64 yard touchdown strike, trimming the War Eagle lead to 20-19.
Following another fumbled snap from Jenkins County, this time recovered by Cedric Williams, Portal took over at their own 45. Two penalties and a loss of five yards saw Portal facing a 2nd and 30 from their own 25.
Smith dropped back to pass and fired a pass over the middle, but the War Eagles’ Tumani Chandler picked off Smith’s pass and raced 35 yards to the end zone to extend the Jenkins County lead to 27-19 where it would stay going into halftime.
McQueen finished the night with four catches for 131 yards while adding 33 yards rushing on four carries.
Portal finished with 289 total yards, while Jenkins racked up 424 yards in a game that lasted almost three hours.
The Panthers return to action on Friday when they travel to face Bryan County at 7:30 on Friday.
