Malden Greenwave dampens Portageville's chances

Portageville quarterback Conner Barham throws a swing pass Friday at The Swamp.

MALDEN - Was there ever any doubt how the Green Wave would respond after their three-year regular season winning streak ended last week.

On the way to beating Portageville 42-14 Friday at The Swamp, Tray Stevenson ran for a career best 218 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries. All in the first half. Tye Miller, playing defensive back for the first time, had his first two varsity interceptions and a pick 6. The Green Wave defense held Portageville to -14 yards of offense in the first half and -36 yards rushing in the first half.

"It was a matter of 'We have to get this back.' And initially it was difficult. These kids haven't had to deal with that sort of thing. They had to get up, they had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. All the cliches I can think of, but they did it. We had very fast paced, intense practices and we were pleased," Malden coach Kevin Collier said. "We could have come up and muddled around and not done things right, but they came out with fire in their eyes and did what we wanted right off the bat."

The first team defense played the first series in the second half, and then it was all JV. It was only then that Portageville was able to cobble together some yards through the air. The Bulldogs threw for 148 yards, but finished with -30 yards rushing.

Malden (2-1) quarterback Mason Brown threw one pass on a third-and-long. The ground game averaged 9.63 yards and finished with 395 yards rushing.  Ten different players had a carry and everyone finished with positive yardage.

"We blocked well up front. Our goal was to come in and run the ball and we know Tray is a good one carrying the ball," Collier said. "By and large it was a pretty good night for the kids."

The Green Wave's opening drive was all Stevenson. He took five handoffs for 29 yards and a touchdown. When Malden got the ball back after a punt, Stevenson took the first play into the end zone for 34 more yards. Less than 4 minutes into the game, he had 63 yards. He was over 120 by the end of it.

"I feel pretty happy," Stevenson said of his day. "Last game, we didn't do good. So we came out and tried to do our best."

All four of Malden's first quarter drives ended up in the end zone. Stevenson had three and Malcolm McBride got the fourth.

Early in the second quarter, Stevenson ran in his fourth touchdown from 23 yards out. Miller, who used to be a linebacker, jumped a hitch route a few minutes later to send Malden into the locker room ahead 42-0.

"They had ran quite a bit of screens and hitches, so I saw it coming, jumped in front of it, caught it and ran my hardest," Miller said. "(Coming into the game) I was just hoping to stay strong, not let my teammates down. I didn't want to get beat deep, give up a touchdown."

In the first half, the Bulldogs had one drive that gained yards. It was their third possession, late in the first quarter, and it earned nine yards on four plays before a punt.

The Bulldogs gained 144 yards between their final two drives, both for touchdowns. Before that they had six punts, two interceptions and a safety for -13 yards of offense. Portageville's leading rusher, Andrew Carter, had 22 yards on 13 carries. His longest run was seven yards. Hunter Gates had seven receptions for 94 yards and scored both Bulldog touchdowns.

Conner Barham finished 13 for 27 passing for 148 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Gavin Bristow led the Green Wave defense with seven tackles. Ben French and Dalton Lewis each had a sack for 24 total yards lost.

The largest roar from the crowd in the lopsided affair was ironically off a bad snap.

At their own 38 in the second quarter, Malden was set up to punt. The snap missed punter Dee Triplett and bounced backwards all the way to the 10, where Triplett scooped it up.

The athletic defensive tackle/kicker/punter avoided a tackle and picked up steam, football tucked under his massive arms.

He shedded a second tackle that was aimed at his shoulders, bounced outside, bounced off a slightly lower tackle, high stepped a fourth attempt and rumbled up the sideline to the 46 for an eight yard gain and a turnover on downs. His efforts were slightly in vain. A penalty took the ball back to the 26.

"That's the first bad snap we've had on a punt in forever. Mainly I was thinking about that," Collier said. "But Dee is pretty capable of picking up some yards. He can run."

RUSHING: Portageville, Carter 13-22. Barham 5 (-28), Gates 1 (-3), Crafton 1 (-5). Malden, Stevenson 20-218, Miller 3-46. Brown 5-39. Reed 2-25. McBride 4-24. Caruso 1-10. Heck 2-7. Blankenship 1-2. Payne 1-8.

PASSING: Portageville, Barham 13-27-2 148. Brown 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING: Portageville, Gates 7-94. Carter 3-16. Kirkwood 2-32. Hicks 1-6.

MISSED KICKS: None.