Scott City wins defensive battle over Portageville

PORTAGEVILLE - Missed opportunities spelled defeat for the Portageville Bulldogs Friday night against the Scott City Rams and the Bulldog record fell to 1-1 on the season.

The final score was 14-7 in favor of the Rams, who go to 2-0 on the season.

The Bulldogs led the game from the 6:25 mark of the first period on a 28-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Penn to Spencer Martin.

The scoring strike ended a 5-play drive that began when Penn intercepted a Ram pass at the 7:50 mark and returned it to the Rams' 43-yard line.

Antonio Scott, who leads the Bulldogs in rushing, was held by a swarming Scott City defense to 54 yards on 17 carries.

Scott City's Matt Schaefer carried the ball 24 times for 78 yards and hauled in a 30-yard pass midway through the final quarter.

Portageville's best opportunity to win the contest came early in the fourth when Scott returned a punt and ended up on the Ram 22-yard line.

From that point the Bulldogs were flagged for two straight procedure penalties which killed the promising drive. Scott City's Dane Gibson intercepted a Penn pass at the 7:45 mark to give the Rams another chance to erase the Bulldog 7-6 lead.

The Rams put together an impressive drive of their own following the interception, but Portageville's defense stiffened and took over the ball on downs at the 4:40 mark.

A holding call against Portageville effectively ended the next drive, and to make matters worse for the Bulldogs, Penn went out with an injury.

Scott had to punt from near the end zone. A furious Ram rush put such pressure on Scott that his punt covered only 23 yards, where the Rams set up shop with 1:55 left.

On the second play of the drive, Ram quarterback Mark Johnston threw a lateral to Luke McClellan on the left flank, who passed into the end zone and found Jason Schenimann for the final score of the contest at the 1:48 juncture.

The Rams' two-point conversion was successful, giving them a 14-7 lead.

With Penn out of the game, C. J. Medley took over at quarterback for Portageville and led his team down the field to the 10-yard line. Time ran out after the Bulldogs took a couple of shots at the end zone.

Johnston scored the first Rams' touchdown at the 5:22 mark of the second quarter on a keeper from the 1-yard line.

"I blame most of it on myself. I made some questionable calls and should have run some better plays than we did. I'm too conservative sometimes, so I think most of it tonight was my fault," said Bulldog coach Ashley Swims.

"The boys played with all their heart tonight and fought to the very end and I'm very proud of them."

Portageville will be at home next week against Fulton County (Ky), and Scott City will be on the road at East Prairie to take on the Eagles.