Box Score
TCHS PHS
First Downs 14 8
Rushes-Yards 16-69 34-108
Passing Yards 308 43
Total Yards 377 120
Comp-Att-Int 25-33-1 2-4-0
Turnovers 1 1
Penalties-Yards10-80 2-20
Individual Leaders
Rushing: TCHS: Butts, 7-48. PHS: Jones, 9-30.
Passing: TCHS: Shine, 23-29, 304 yards, 2 TD, INT. PHS: Budgett, 1-2, 34 yards, TD.
Receiving: TCHS: Robinson, 6-98, 2 TD. PHS: Smith, 1-34, TD.
TCHS 6 0 0 6 — 12
PHS 0 0 7 0 — 7
Scoring
1st Quarter
7:33 – Robinson (TCHS) 15 pass from Shine (PAT failed)
3rd Quarter
0:11 -- Smith (PHS) 34 pass from Budgett (Diaz kick)
4th Quarter
10:13 – Robinson (TCHS) 59 pass from Shine (Shine incomplete pass)
PORTAL — Twiggs County quarterback Nokie Shine put on a show to the tune of 304 passing yards, but the Portal Panthers hung in there and gave themselves a chance when the teams scrimmaged Friday at the Portal Athletic Complex.
Shine threw a fourth-quarter touchdown to Perfect Robinson and it turned out to be the difference as the TCHS Cobras left with a 12-7 win.
Robinson caught both touchdown passes and finished with 98 receiving yards on five receptions.
“They’ve got a pretty good little system there,” said Portal coach David NeSmith. “They nickel and dime you to death and run that hurry up offense, and it just wears you out.”
Portal had seven players who hadn’t taken a varsity snap get plenty of experienced on a 38-man roster with 24 underclassmen.
“They got their first taste of varsity, and there were good things we saw that we can build on,” said NeSmith. “Now, there are 10 million things we’ve got to work on, but there were some good things we saw, and we’ve just got to build on those.”
With the junior varsity squads playing the third quarter and the Panthers trailing 6-0, backup quarterback Tyler Budgett threw a fourth-down, 34-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Chance Smith, and PHS went ahead 7-6 on an extra point from Edgar Diaz.
Twiggs put up a ton of first-half yards, with not a whole lot to show for it. The Cobras scored six points on the game’s first drive, which saw Shine throw the ball nine times and complete eight passes for 68 yards, including a 15-yard pass to Robinson for a touchdown.
Robinson completed 17 of his 22 first-half passes to six different receivers for 190 yards.
The score remained 6-0 until half time due to some defensive stops by the Panthers, including an interception in the end zone by Portal’s Malik Williams.
On the first second-quarter drive, Twiggs netted 40 yards in the wrong direction on four-straight penalties covering a vast array of infractions — false start, holding, chop block and illegal shift.
The penalties were overcome when Shine tossed a 43-yard bomb to TCHS receiver Markwion Hooks. The drive stalled from there as the Cobras lost it on downs.
Twiggs turned it over on downs twice in the second quarter, and the Panthers struggled to cross mid field.
Portal’s starting quarterback Evan Street completed 1 of 2 passes for 9 yards to Larry Huff, but left the game after taking a shot to the head in the fourth quarter.
Huff added seven rushes for 29 yards. He was also dinged up in the scrimmage.
Portal will have another week to recover before the regular season kicks off on Aug. 31, at home against Southeast Bulloch.
Matt Yogus may be reached at (912) 489-9408.