PORTAL — It was the best of halves and it was the worst of halves.
    The Portal Panthers won’t have to delve too far into Charles Dickens to understand just how fast fortunes can change in high school football. Sometimes the difference can be as obvious as a halftime break.
    The Panthers (1-1) took a 24-0 lead into the intermission of their Friday night matchup with Metter before the Tigers rallied for a huge second-half comeback to stun the Panthers 28-24. The win kept the Panthers winless against their rivals from nearby Candler County since 1980.
    “I told them at the half that we would get their best shot coming out in the second half,” said Portal coach David NeSmith.
    He was right.
    Although the coach didn’t like to say it, the sheer size of Metter’s football squad overwhelmed Portal. While the Panthers, with just enough players to have 11-on-11 practices with a few extras on the sidelines, labored against fatigue and cramps, Metter (2-0) trotted out fresh bodies.
    The Tigers needed them. Portal dominated the first half of play, allowing Metter into Portal territory just once in the opening two quarters. Portal intercepted Metter passes twice, both time by Cory Reese. The second interception resulted in a touchdown for Reese and put the Panthers ahead 21-0.
    When Joseph Lockley booted a 32-yard field goal to put Portal ahead 24-0, the Panthers looked poised to end the streak of losses that began before the first space shuttle was launched.
    On the flip side of the half, though, everything was different.
    After keeping possession of the ball perfectly though the first 30 minutes of the game, Portal coughed up the football on the second play of the second half. Metter converted that mistake into an eight-play drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown run by Asa Lanier.
    After getting some momentum back by blocking the point after, Portal managed just nine plays in their next three possessions, the minimum
possible without a turnover.
    Metter, meanwhile, was rubbing in their advantage in numbers. With fresh bodies to shuttle on and off from the sidelines, the Tigers began to run sweeps to add to Portal’s exhaustion. Keigan Williams scored on two such plays, from seven and 18 yards out.
    NeSmith admits that the change in tactics from Metter coach Mike West was a smart move.
    “It’s what I would have done,” NeSmith said. “It made us run. It gassed us.”
    Up just three points, the Panthers coughed up the ball a second time on the next kickoff after Williams’ second touchdown run. Four plays later, Metter scored on a 1-yard keeper by quarterback Jacob Wedincamp.
    Two more possessions didn’t bear any fruit for Portal.
    “We played hard in the fourth quarter, but we just didn’t have enough bodies,” NeSmith said. “I don’t want to use that as an excuse. We’ll keep working, get better.”
    The see-saw game was almost even on the stat sheet, too. Both teams gave the ball away twice. Both times, the team taking the ball away scored. Metter had the edge in rushing and total yardage, but not an overwhelming one.
    Although no official time of possession stats were kept, Portal certainly won that battle in the first half and lost in it in the second just as decisively.
    Portal will get a chance to get the bad taste of this loss out if their mouths next week when they travel to face Claxton.