PORTAGEVILLE-- The Portageville Bulldogs racked up their third consecutive win on Saturday defeating the Chaffee Red Devils 49-0. With the win, Portageville improves to 3-1 with the only blemish coming from a week one defeat by Gosnell Ark.
Portageville dominated the game from the opening kick as the Bulldogs racked up 516 yards of total offense compared to the 92 handed in by Chaffee. The Bulldogs were led offensively by senior Dantwan Chillers who turned in an impressive day recording over 230 all purpose yards.
"Dantwan has had an outstanding year. He makes a lot of good moves and just makes people miss him. He is a hard player who gives me 100 percent offensively and defensively," said Portageville coach Jim McKay.
After the Portageville defense forced a three and out to open the game, the Bulldogs, led by Chillers pushed the ball down the field. The drive was capped off by an Aaron Bidewell eight yard dash to the endzone to give the 'Dogs an early 6-0 lead. Quarterback Lance Penn pounded the two point conversion up the middle to make the score 8-0.
The 8-0 lead would hold until early in the second quarter. On the first play from scrimmage Chillers took the handoff from Penn, broke a tackle, and out ran the Chaffee defense 52 yards for the six. The conversion would fail making the score 14-0.
Chaffee then put together its best offensive drive of the afternoon, taking the ball down to the Bulldog 15 yard line. On a fourth down with three to go, defensive back Eric Booker batted down the Derrick Urhan pass to force a turnover on downs.
With the ball back, the relentless Bulldog offense again methodically marched back down the field again, capped by a seven yard touchdown run by Chillers. The conversion again failed to keep the score at 20-0.
"Coach McKay always has fundamentally sound football teams. Coming in here we knew that whoever played good solid football would win, and Portageville did it today." said Chaffee coach Allan Horrell."They came out and jumped on us early. From that point we started reeling and just never got over it."
With Portageville already getting three scores on the ground in the first half, junior quarterback Lance Penn took to the air and found a streaking Mark Mudd for a 63 yard touchdown strike. Penn would then find Antonio Scott for the two point conversion to give the 'Dogs a comfortable 28-0 lead heading into the half.
"My kids played well today, we cut down on our mistakes and got everyone in the game," said Portageville Coach Jim McKay.
On the opening kickoff in the second half, Chillers picked up the ball on his own 18 yard line. He then blew past the Red Devil defenders and went 82 yards for the score making the tally 34-0. Chillers would tack on the two point conversion making the score 36-0.
The Bulldogs would see two more scores late in the fourth quarter by Paul Recker and Antonio Scott. Those points would seal the victory and give them their second shutout of the young season.
"Our philosophy all along has been to cut down on our turnovers, and keep the ball. If we can keep them from having the ball, we can have pretty good luck," said McKay.
Portageville will travel to Kennett on Friday, while Chaffee will host Scott City.