Portageville Bulldogs look to see promising season

Members of the team include: Andrew Carter, Connor Barham, Josh Adams, Sam Riggs, Jacob Carter, Bryce Rone, Jared Crafton, Alex Winsor, Bub Lance, Tyler Dubois, Kile Adams, Jared Stahl, Billy Brewer, Drew Irby, Seth Prince, Terry Kirkwood, Presley Thompson, Caleb Neeley, Gavin Ivie, Jesston Polk, Lee Laws, Lamonte Dixson, Martavious Hopkins, CJ Kelley, Jayse Scherer, Robert Allen Carter, Jon Cook, Justin Byrd, Cody Lewis, Zack Douglas, Tre Sipes, Jacob Quick, and Justin Daugherty. -Scott Seal photo

With 15 years under his belt and seven years as head football coach, Jeff Bullock, look for a promising season for his Portageville Bulldogs.

“As of now, things look good for us. We have 36 kids that have tried out which is more than we have had in the past. We have about eight kids that have seen playing time from last year. We have a few new kids trying out, even seniors. We have a good mixture of players,” said Coach Bullock.

“A lot of the kids have really grown a lot from last year, and we seem to have a good attitude on the field.”

“As a matter of fact, with the increase of young and new players on the Freshman and Sophomore levels, we have enough to have a Junior Varsity squad. For the past few seasons we have not had a jayvee team due to the lack of numbers. The new kids along with some upper classmen that have never played before will get to play some this year,” said Bullock.

This year Portageville will be playing Grandview at Hillsboro, which is new to the Bulldogs. “For years, seems like we get into some conflict with setting our schedules. Previously, we have played Redbud, Ill. and Piggott, Ark. When MHSAA looks at our schedules, sometimes, we have conflicts with the out of state schools, and we have to scramble around to fine schools to play with,” Bullock explained.

Also new to this year's schedule, we will host Perryville, a Class 4 school. Normally, we try to play our games on Friday nights, this was another conflict. It seems there is a lack of football officials available for Friday, October 12, so we moved that game to Saturday, Oct. 13. This will be an afternoon game with kick off at 1:00 pm.

Despite the loss of 14 starters from last year, bullock has a good group of talented players moving up.

Connor Barham will be the starting quarterback. Other key players will be Andrew Carter, Robert Allen Carter, Bryce Rone and Sam Riggs just to name a few.

The first home game for the Portageville Bulldogs will be Friday, September 7 and will host Malden.

The first official game of the season will be on the road against Charleston.

Coach Bullock has a Lifetime record of 35-27 at Portageville High.

Last year, the Bulldogs were 5-6 for the season and placed third in the SEMO West Conference.