Trailing Wheeler County 7-0 in last week’s pivotal Region 3-A game, Portal needed a spark. Showing some senior leadership, Isiah Rich stepped up and made something happen.
    Defending against Wheeler’s flexbone triple-option, Rich burst through the line, disrupting a pitch, knocking it into the end zone and falling on it for the game-tying score.
    “Coach (Josh) Thompson told us that they would eventually slip up,” said Rich. “We just kept getting after it and I was finally able to make a big play.”
    That wasn’t his last.
    Late in the fourth quarter, Wheeler was driving for the win when Rich struck again. The Bulldogs lined up for a go-ahead field goal with five minutes to play, but Rich got a hand on it.
    From there, the Panthers marched 80 yards, notching the winning touchdown with 34 seconds to play.
    Friday, Rich and the Panthers hit the road to take on Treutlen.
tatesboro is used to many different players racking up the rushing yards, but got some big production from a rather unlikely source last
week.