Pass-happy Portageville downs Chaffee, 49-14

PORTAGEVILLE -- Abandoning its run-first offense from previous seasons for a pass-oriented system, Portageville's success has been hard to argue with through its first two games.

Against Chaffee on Friday, three-year starting quarterback Jon Garrett Kellams threw for 346 yards and five touchdowns to down the Red Devils 49-14 keeping the Bulldogs undefeated.

"We've let the athletes dictate what we do," Portageville head coach Jeff Bullock said. "I have a third-year starting quarterback who works super hard. We have some kids that can run a little bit and we put them out in open space. We have Ian Torrey. There's a couple other receivers in this area who get talked about, and they're good ones too, but I guarantee you I wouldn't trade mine for them."

Portageville's Kobe Chillers make a tackle last Friday night against the Chaffee Red Devils. - Scott Seal photo

Portageville's Kobe Chillers make a tackle last Friday night against the Chaffee Red Devils. - Scott Seal photo

Kellams hooked up with five different receivers, going 16 of 31 with no interceptions.

Torrey, a sophomore, was his most frequent option, catching five passes for 87 yards and two scores while senior Will Crysler caught three passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

Though Torrey gets most of the attention, Bullock is pleased to see his selection of receivers step up to take pressure off each other, at least through two games.

"You look out and see that big 6-5 kid out there and then you have that 5-9 kid next to him," Bullock said of Crysler. "Will has what I call game speed. In practice he may not always be the fastest kid, but he has this gear he kicks in for us when we need it to kick in. What really helped us tonight as well was that right side with Ryan Priggel and Hunter Gates had between the two of them five receptions that were huge because it keeps everyone from cheating over and trying to double over there so much."

Take away two late Daniel McCray touchdown runs that racked up 117 yards and the Bulldogs only had 11 rushes for two yards compared to their big night through the air.

"I have four of the best wide receivers to throw to," Kellams said.

As lop-sided as the final score may appear, the outcome was still in the air when Portageville seized a big momentum swing late in the first half.

Tied at 14-14, Chaffee looked ready to take advantage of a Bulldog fumble on the previous drive, taking over and marching to Portageville's 32-yard line. Portageville's Hunter Gates swooped in for an interception and set up the Bulldogs at their own 20-yard line with 2:26 left to play in the half.

After Gates' pick, Portageville started its march before appearing to stall on a fourth-and-one at the Red Devils' 31-yard line. Rather than play it conservative, Kellams sent a pass deep down the middle that found Gates, who ran it into the end zone with 26 seconds remaining.

The point after was missed, but the potential 14-point swing left the Bulldogs up 20-14 going into the break.

"It's one of those things where if it don't work I'm the biggest idiot out here and if it works, people say 'boy, that's gutsy,'" Bullock said. "I trust Jon to either hit the money or come back and give us another play. He laid it in. Good route, good catch, good play."

Crysler, a converted running back, gave Portageville the separation it needed in the second half. He scored on plays of 52 and 81 yards respectively.

With 8:30 left in the third he took a short pass and after nearly getting stopped near the right sideline, ran back behind the line of scrimmage and down the left sideline for a 52-yard touchdown.

Kellams found Crysler again for 81 yards with 10:10 left in the fourth quarter to put his team up 34-14 as the Bulldogs started to pull away. Portageville scored 21 points in the fourth quarter alone and 35 unanswered in the game.

"We played better that second half," Crysler said. "The first half we didn't play together or strong. We didn't play fast enough. The second half we came out and were hitting and making plays."

After attempting less than a dozen running plays all game as a team, the Bulldogs effectively iced the game when McCray opened back-to-back drives with 78 and 39-yard touchdown runs in the final 7:35 of the game.

As the Bulldogs were heating up, the Red Devils shot themselves in the foot with costly penalties on several drives.

The biggest came with 5:15 left in the third quarter and Chaffee still within two scores at 28-14. The Red Devils once again were threatening at Portageville's 32-yard line when two personal foul calls, including an ejection, occurred after a play for a 30-yard loss.

The setback left the Red Devils stalled at their own 32-yard line when a bad punt forced them to turn over the ball on downs.

"I don't think the score was indicative of the ball game," Chaffee head coach Charlie Vickery said. "I don't think that was even close. We shot ourselves in the foot. We know Portageville has a real good team and they have a lot of weapons. As a whole, the kids played extremely hard. We got tired and they got tired too, but they broke three (big plays) near the end."

On the opposite end of the offensive spectrum, the Red Devils rushed the ball 63 times for 245 yards.

Senior Devon Nanney carried 19 times for 109 yards while Tenkhoff, a freshman, gained 82 yards and both his team's touchdowns on 29 attempts. Tenkhoff was 8 of 23 passing for 80 yards and two interceptions.

For Portageville, McCray led the ground attack with 127 yards on nine rushes for a 14.1 yard-per-carry average. Kellams averaged 21.6 yards-per-completion through the air and Crysler led receivers with 45 yards-per-catch.

"It's worked good so far," Kellams said. "We have to play real big next week though against Malden. It's a big week."

First Quarter

P -- Ian Torrey 7 pass from Jon Garrett Kellams (Nicholes Allred kick good), 9:27

C -- Landon Tenkhoff 3 run (Landon Tenkhoff run failed), 3:46

P -- Ian Torrey 49 pass from Jon Garrett Kellams (Nicholes Allred kick good), 0:08

Second Quarter

C -- Landon Tenkhoff 2 run (Landon Tenkhoff run good), 3:36

P -- Hunter Gates 31 pass Jon Garrett Kellams (Nicholes Allred kick failed), 0:26

Third Quarter

P -- Will Chrysler 52 pass from Jon Garrett Kellams (Jon Garrett Kellams pass to Ian Torrey good), 8:36

Fourth Quarter

P -- Will Chrysler 81 pass from Jon Garrett Kellams (Nicholes Allred kick failed), 10:10

P -- Daniel McCray 78 run (Nicholes Allred kick good), 7:25

P -- Daniel McCRay 39 run (Ian Toorey run good), 4:06

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Chaffee, Landon Tenkhoff 29-82, Uzziah Beggs 8-31, Devon Nanney 19-109, Ryan Holderfield 4-18, Brennan Miller 1-1, Dalton Wilson 2-4. Portageville, Daniel McCray 9-127, Will Chrysler 2-5, Jon Garrett Kellams 2-(-13).

Passing -- Chaffee, Landon Tenkhoff 8-23-2 80. Portageville, Jon Garrett Kellams 16-31-0 346.

Receiving -- Chaffee, Devon Nanney 3-50, Brennan Miller 3-20, Kendale Eads 1-3, Austin Copeland 1-7. Portageville, Will Chrysler 3-135, Ian Torrey 5-87, Ryan Priggel 2-35, Hunter Gates 3-54, Daniel McCray 3-35.