For the second straight season the Portal Panther football team has started the season 2-0. Friday night the Panthers invoked the mercy rule as they jumped out to a 38-0 halftime lead and added another score in the third followed by a running clock and a 44-0 thrashing of Twiggs County.

Portal has now outscored their two opponents by a combined 70-0. Head coach Jason McEachin says while he is happy with being 2-0, he is looking at more than the scoreboard in his team’s victories.

 

“We have tried to preach to these kids that the scoreboard will never affect how we play,” McEachin said. “If we are up or down people shouldn’t be able to tell by how we are responding on the field. We expect to win more games this year, but are we doing the little things correctly all game long? Are the players paying attention on the sidelines, do we have the right players on the field? Those are the things we are really paying attention to.”

The Panthers started things off on their opening drive as quarterback Elijah Coleman dropped back and threw a pass to Amir Jackson. Forcing a triple team, Jackson simply went high above the three defenders and pulled in a 34-yard SportsCenter Top-10 looking catch to set up the first score. Samari McBride capped the scoring with a 13-yard run up the middle into the end zone. The 2-point conversion made it 8-0 Panthers.

Coleman went to the air on their next drive as well. This time he’d find Harold Washington on a 31-yard pass inside the Twiggs 10-yard line. Fullback Chase Smith completed the scoring drive with a five-yard touchdown. The extra point kick by Kasen Evans made it 15-0 which would hold through the first quarter.

Portal continued to shut things down on defense and added another score early in the quarter on a jet sweep with Brian McQueen in at quarterback, and Coleman getting the ball and going five-yards for the score and a 23-0 lead following the 2-point conversion.

 

The Panthers would add a touchdown pass from McQueen to Coleman, and then a 75-yard touchdown run from Amir Jackson for a 38-0 halftime lead. Coleman would later find Charles McNeal on a five-yard touchdown pass for the final points of the game.

 “I was pleased with how we played, especially with another shutout,” McEachin said. “We were really looking to work on our offense out of the gun and I thought that was solid too. We cleaned things up a little on special teams as well so overall I am pleased initially with what I saw.”

 Next up for Portal it’s a short week as they travel to Robert Toombs for a Thursday night 7:30 kickoff in Lyons.