Portageville crushes Chaffee

CHAFFEE -- Portageville running back Will Crysler enjoys boxing, among other extreme sports, when he's not helping the Portageville Bulldogs football team.

The junior threw haymakers at the Chaffee defense until the Bulldogs scored a T.K.O. Friday night at Chaffee High School during his career debut at the running back position.

Crysler was half of the duo who put up the bulk of Portageville's 480 rushing yards which was more than enough to handle the Red Devils, 35-0.

"I don't really know the plays too well yet," Crysler said about learning his new position. "I've only done it for a week and I've had a few offensive days with it. Most of them are pretty simple on my part. I just have to know the number and what hole to hit."

Crysler had 11 carries for 169 yards and a touchdown. His teammate, Daniel McCray, led the Bulldogs with 178 yards on 19 carries while quarterback Jon Garrett Kellams scored a total of four touchdowns and threw for 65 yards on three completions.

Ian Torrey gaining yardage. -Neil Priggel photos

Ian Torrey gaining yardage. -Neil Priggel photos

"We were able to mix it up a little bit," Kellams said about the offense. "I came out and was a little shaky at first with the pass. The running game was great all night and Will Crysler, we had a real big game from him. When you've got two guys that can make big plays like that it's awesome to have back there."

Portageville (2-0) have put up back-to-back shutouts to start the season. They beat Barat Academy, a first-year varsity program, 42-0 last week and held Chaffee to 116 yards of total offense. It's their first 2-0 start since 2012 when they finished 9-2.

"We've played really good run defense these past two games," Portageville head coach Jeff Bullock said. "Our pass defense did the 'bend but don't break'. Overall, the aggressiveness of the defense, I'll take it every week."

Spearheading Portageville's defense is Class 1 all-state and SEMO all-conference lineman Derrick Priggel. Priggel, who had several tackles and one interception, and Chaffee's all-conference lineman, Trevor Morehead, went toe-to-toe which left other defenders such as Landon Deslisle and Kellams to disrupt Chaffee's young offense.

"We lost a lot of kids from last year's team and the thing I like about this team is that they like to hit," Bullock said. "They're a very aggressive group of kids and it's easy to coach kids like that. Our we the most talented group in the world? Probably not. But we've got a bunch of kids that will fight until the end of the play."

The Red Devils ended up with 10 rushing yards after sacks and big losses were taken away.

"(Derrick) Priggel is a really good player and we had trouble handling him," Chaffee head coach Charlie Vickery said about their offensive struggles. "We never got in any rhythm and if you can't do that it really hurts your offense."

Crysler gave Portageville their first touchdown late in the first quarter. He capped a five-play, two minute and four second drive with a 13-yard run. He caromed off Chaffee defenders until finally breaking free for the final few yards with 43 seconds left in the quarter.

"He's just a tough-nosed kid," Bullock said about Crysler. "He and Daniel are a good one-two punch. That medium offensive line we have really played hard and Landon Deslisle really did a good job of giving them gaps to hit and our guys hit them."

Crysler's touchdown run was followed by another short Portageville drive during their next possession. After a 32-yard catch and run by Torrey Ian, Kellams punched in the first of his three rushing touchdowns from four yards away to make it 14-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

After a punt ended their next drive, Kellams hit Kobe Chillers with an over-the-shoulder pass from 19 yards out to put Portageville ahead 21-0 entering halftime.

"We knew that we wanted to pass the football a little more than we usually do because we're a double-tight, bone team," Kellams said. "We were able to run it fine and we're able to mix it up and that's what we want to do. We need a good little mix there."

Kellams, who is in his second year under center, put the game out of reach in the second half with a 13-yard scoring run in the third quarter and another 1-yard run early in the fourth to signal the running clock.

"I'm a lot more confident this year," Kellams said. "It's a lot different and it feels good. Last year we kind of got off to a rough start and ended up having a real good season. It's going good right now. We just have to keep playing this way for the rest of the season."

Portageville will host conference foe Malden, who defeated Caruthersville 47-0. Both teams enter next week's matchup with two wins.

Portageville 35, Chaffee 0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Portageville, Daniel McCray 19-178, Will Crysler 11-169, Landon Deslisle 3-38, Jon Garrett Kellams 10-22, Ethan Fugate 1-6, Lamar Alexander 1-2. Chaffee, Jake Perkins 10-24, Thomas Robbins 5-8, Jordan Wilburn 4-(-15), Logan Chapman 2-(-9), Devon Nanney 3-2.

Passing -- Portageville, Jon Garrett Kellams 3-13-0 65. Chaffee, Jordan Wilburn 9-27-1 106, Kodi Ballard 0-1-0 0.

Receiving -- Portageville, Torrey Ian 2-46, Kobe Chillers 1-19. Chaffee, Thomas Robbins 3-49, Ryan Lohman 3-25, Jake Perkins 1-20, Kodi Ballard 2-12.