Priggel leads Portageville to 40-14 win over Scott City

sports@standard-democrat.com

PORTAGEVILLE -- Portageville head coach Jeff Bullock puts a lot of faith into his senior linebacker Derrick Priggel.

Possibly more off the field than he does on it.

"He's taking my daughter to homecoming tonight," Bullock said following his team's 40-14 win over Scott City Friday. "That tells you how much I trust him to do that."

Priggel led the Portageville defense with two interceptions, a forced fumble and a host of tackles to limit Scott City to two scores.

Portageville (4-2) is now 3-1 in the SEMO South Conference moving them into sole possession of second place behind undefeated Malden.

"Our intensity was good and we finally got in the feel of the game," said Bullock. "We got set into what (Scott City) was going to give us."

Priggel's first interception set up Portageville's second touchdown of the second quarter after a 28-yard return. That play helped the Bulldogs score 22-unanswered points in just over six minutes time.

Portageville's Daniel McCray and Scott City's Cody Brown each grab face masks Friday at Portageville High School. (Chris Pobst photo)

Portageville's Daniel McCray and Scott City's Cody Brown each grab face masks Friday at Portageville High School. (Chris Pobst photo)

"I was just reading his eyes and I would look at his wide receivers," Priggel said about his two interceptions. "I could tell he was locking on to a few of his receivers."

His forced fumble came on the very next defensive series but Portageville gave the ball right back with a fumble of their own.

Priggel intercepted his second pass on Scott City's first offensive series of the second half. Six plays later, Portageville's Daniel McCray ran in for a 10-yard score giving the Bulldogs a 28-8 advantage.

"Can't say enough about Derrick Priggel," Bullock said. "If there's better linebackers around I don't want to see them against us."

Priggel was also vital on an offensive line that propelled a rushing offense to 371 yards and five rushing touchdowns.

Scott City quarterback Braden Cox drops back to pass against Portageville Friday at Portageville High School. (Chris Pobst photo)

Scott City quarterback Braden Cox drops back to pass against Portageville Friday at Portageville High School. (Chris Pobst photo)

McCray led that attack with 166 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. Landon Delisle added 82 yards on nine touches and Will Crysler ran for 60 yards and a 19-yard score early in the fourth quarter.

Seeing the core runners for Portageville (4-2) back in form was a welcomed sight after last week's 34-18 win over Hayti. McCray, Delisle and Crysler were all hampered by injuries against Hayti but it didn't show Friday.

"It was good to have those guys back," Bullock said about his running backs. "Last week they struggled. The line did a good job of coming off the ball."

Portageville was somewhat slowed in the first quarter thanks in large part to Scott City.

The Rams (3-3) took away sweeps to the outside and put an emphasis on stopping Portageville's passing attack -- something that the Bulldogs rarely do out of the gate.

"We came out a little bit flat right off the bat," Bullock said. "We probably should have scored that first possession but we kind of stalled out. A lot of that you have to give credit to coach May and the Scott City staff. They took some stuff away and not many teams will try to stop us throwing and they did."

Though they hung tough in the early goings, an injury to an already banged up senior linebacker Jake Elders opened running lanes through the middle.

Portageville took advantage.

"He got dinged up again and he's nursing a bad ankle," May said. "He had to come out for a couple series' and they really hit us up the middle hard with him not in there. We have to have someone else step up and fill that void, but (Portageville) did a good job."

Portageville led 22-8 at halftime following a 30-yard pass from quarterback Jon Garrett Kellams to Ian Torrey. Torrey won a jump ball against a Scott City defender in the endzone with 32 seconds left in the half.

"We're beat up but there's no excuses there," May said. "We came out and were the more physical group and got up 8-0. They started hitting us in the middle and once they got on top of us they stayed the aggressors. It never got back to that mode of us being on top."

Portageville went ahead 28-8 after McCray's second touchdown run in the third quarter. Crysler put the Bulldogs ahead 34-8 after his 19-yard touchdown run then McCray sealed the win with a 65-yard run with 2:18 left in the game.

Scott City added their second score with nine seconds remaining when backup quarterback Dylan Keller hit Isiah Berry with a 12-yard touchdown pass.

Braden Cox started at quarterback for Scott City and finished the game 13 of 35 with three interceptions. He ran the ball 25 times for 70 yards and scored the Rams' first touchdown in the early parts of the second quarter with a four-yard run.

"Braden did a pretty good job," May said. "During the second half we kind of abandoned the run then the score got a little more lopsided and we absolutely abandoned the run. We were trying to protect him a little more from taking a beating back there but he will not run out of bounds and he'll try to get yards."

Kellams finished his night with 36 yards passing on three completions. Two of those receptions were to Torrey for 31 yards.

Portageville will travel to East Prairie (4-2) next Friday and Scott City will host Hayti (2-4).