Portageville rolls to first district title since 2002 with 58-16 win over Charleston
PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Portageville’s Mason Adams did a little bit of everything Friday night in helping the Bulldogs defeat Charleston 58-16 in the MSHSAA Class 1, District 1 Championship.
The junior threw for a touchdown, blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass while helping guide Portageville (10-2) to its first district championship since 2002.
“It feels so good to bring a district championship back to Portageville,” said Bulldogs coach Ian Penrod. “[Adams] leads in every sense of the word and every aspect of the game for this team. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but as always, we got better as the game wore on.”
Adams is arguably the best linebacker in southeast Missouri but Portageville was forced to move the gifted junior out of the box into the secondary due to some impactful injuries.
“We lost our starting safety and cornerback, which are also our starting wide receivers, in the second quarter,” Penrod said. “But we didn’t miss a beat. We had to maneuver some guys around and pull our best linebacker [Adams] to play safety, and what does he do? Blocks a punt, scores a touchdown and gets a pick. He made that transition easier, but we had that next man up mentality and that helped us click and get through.”
The game was closer than the final score indicated through much of the game.
Rommie Turner converted a third down with a 25-yard run on the Bluejays’ opening drive, but Trey Benthal had a sack for a 14-yard loss and Charleston turned it over on downs a couple of plays later.
Adams jump-started the Bulldogs’ offense with a 20-yard and Portageville moved the ball to the red zone before the Bulldogs’ defense tightened up and forced a turnover on downs.
Portageville took the lead after forcing a three-and-out when Jamarion Smith scored the first of his four touchdowns on the night with a 19-yard run. Adams connected with Beau-Hunter Warren on the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 54.6 seconds left in the first quarter.
Both defenses continued strong play as neither team was able to pick up the first down and was forced to punt on its next possession.
Portageville’s Sam Hayes and Charleston’s Brian Simmons each made impressive tackles for losses that helped stall the opposing offense.
The Bluejays’ capitalized on some excellent field position, marching 52 yards in eight plays to tie it 8-8 after Ko’Terrion Owens scored a two-yard touchdown on a quarterback run up the middle and passed to Simmons for the conversion with 5:59 left in the second quarter. Charleston ran a similar play with Owens earlier in the drive that converted a 4th-and-1.
However, Portageville answered immediately when Aaron Dunlap returned the ensuing kickoff about 75 yards for a score to make 16-8 with 5:49 to go until halftime.
‘[Dunlap] had himself a game,” Penrod said. “That was a huge momentum swing. It kept our energy up and the other team’s down, and when you’re playing someone as talented as Charleston, you need that.”
Again, Charleston started with good field position around midfield after recovering an onside kick. Owens converted another fourth down, this time with a shifty 18-yard scramble but two plays later Adams stripped a ball carrier and Hayes recovered to regain possession for Portageville.
The Bulldogs added another score with less than a minute halftime when Adams found Warren for a 10-yard touchdown that gave the team a 22-8 advantage at the break.
The score could have been much closer at halftime but some miscues and missed opportunities in the passing game proved costly for Charleston.
It appeared the Bulldogs would build to their lead on the opening drive of the second half. Portageville quickly moved the ball in the red zone, but Roy Wiley kept hope alive for the Bluejays when he intercepted a pass in the endzone.
“We missed some big opportunities and things just don’t go our way,” said Charleston coach Justin Hutchings. “We have been down before, and we came out ready to go at the start of the second half. We kept battling but it just didn’t shake out for us in the second half.”
Adams got his revenge for interception about two minutes later when he blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown to make it 30-8 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
“I was jacked up at that point,” Penrod said. “Who else would it be but [Adams]? He always comes through in the clutch for us.”
Charleston wasn’t finished, however, marching down the field on a seven-play scoring drive, highlighted by a 36-yard pass from Owens to Turner that bounced off a Portageville defender’s hands into the arms of Turner. Owens scored from 1-yard out to narrow it to 30-16 with 2:37 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Bluejays, they were unable to stop the running of Smith. The junior scored three consecutive touchdowns on runs of 27, 43 and 74 yards as Portageville cruised to the finish.
Hayes scored the Bulldogs' final touchdown on a 2-yard run with 5:22 left in the game.
Smith finished with 21 carries for 219 yards and four touchdowns. Adams added 10 attempts for 44 yards, Benthal had four rushes for 11 yards and Hayes had 17 yards and a touchdown on two touches.
Adams finished 5-of-9 for 96 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Warren was the team’s leading receiver with three receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown, while Dunlap added two catches for 27 yards.
“[Charleston] has a great defense,” Penrod said. “They’re fast as heck, play physical and take away a lot of things. But it doesn’t matter what happens to us. When adversity strikes, we’re going to strike back. I have amazing kids that’s why all of this has happened. All the credit goes to them. They’re a great team to coach and couldn’t be more grateful to be here.”
Portageville will travel to Duchesne (7-4) next week for a MSHSAA Class 1 Sectional. The Pioneers won 38-18 over Brentwood (10-2) on Friday.
“They still some very talented players,” Penrod said. “Don’t let their record fool you because they’re playing one of the hardest schedules in the state. They’re feeling confident rolling into the playoffs and hopefully, we’re going to be able to play a great game and get after them.”
Charleston ended its season with an 8-3 record. Turner finished with 17 rushes for 93 yards and two receptions for 43 yards. Owens went 6-of-18 for 66 yards with an interception and rushed 11 times for 36 yards and two touchdowns.
“This group has done some unbelievable things,” Hutchings said. “We came out and were the underdogs all year, No one outside the program thought we were going to do anything this year and they did everything possible to turn this program around.
“We proved all doubters wrong over and over again and these guys showed great competitiveness and courage all year long,” he continued. “They showed leadership, maturity and a desire to be great. I know that’s going to rub off on our younger guys.”