The thought of retiring from coaching has crept into the mind of Portal head coach Jeff Brannen, but like many coaches the dream to have one special season has kept bringing him back. Friday night at Ft. Valley Brannen’s Panthers did something he has been unable to do in the past as a 60-48 win over Washington Wilkes in the GHSA state Final-4 has the Panthers in the state championship game.

“I’ve been coaching for 34 years and to finally get a chance to go the state championship is very special,” Brannen said. “I was telling the kids earlier they have a chance to make history. I have never made it past the Final-4 and Portal hasn’t since 1958. This is great for the fans and the community and hats off to the kids for being resilient and playing so hard.”

The two teams came out and traded punches for most of the first quarter and the Panthers trailed 14-10. In the second the shots started falling for Portal and they’d go into the locker room with a 30-25 lead thanks to a 20-point quarter. Despite holding the lead Brannen was concerned about the way the Panthers were getting beat on the boards.

“They are much bigger than us and they kept getting multiple chances with offensive rebounds,” Brannen said. “I challenged our team to go out there and battle on the glass with them and I think that was the big difference in the second half.”

In the third quarter neither team was able to put the ball in the hoop with any consistency. Portal managed just nine points, but a solid defensive effort and limiting second chances the Panthers held Washington Wilkes to just four points and led 39-29 entering the fourth quarter.

In the fourth David Thomas started taking over with a couple clutch baskets and went 4-4 from the free throw line. C.J. Harden added seven points and the Panther lead grew to 18 points. A few late three-pointers wasn’t nearly enough as the crowd who traveled down from Portal erupted and the coaches and players celebrated the first finals appearance for Portal since the late 1950’s.

“This is such a special group,” Brannen said. “These guys just play so well together. We have a bunch of guards who play hard on defense and can all shoot the ball. We have a couple big guys who are crafty and can score and play defense when they have to.”

The state championship against Clinch County will take place Thursday March 12 at 3:00 at the Macon Coliseum.