The clock has unfortunately struck midnight on the Portal Panthers Cinderella season. They will be ending their season and their run in the playoffs after falling 14 to 12 against the Telfair County Trojans. This season for the Panthers has been nothing short of extraordinary to say the least.
All season long the Panthers were used to controlling the game with fast plays and quick drives, and tonight down 14-12, with two minutes left to play, their game was no different.
Senior quarterback, Elijah Coleman, was a maestro orchestrating a scaled and calculated comeback down the field. In four plays, the Panthers went from the Trojan 15 yard line to the Panther 25 in less than a minute.
After getting tackled for a big loss, and with 1:01 left to play in the game, The Panthers made a pass for the endzone. Thinking they had the play executed and a touchdown coming, players and fans alike were cheering at the top of their lungs, but then Elijah Coleman was hit from the back side at the last second which allowed for Telfair County to intercept the ball for the second time in the game on the Panther 20 and run the clock down to 43 seconds. From there the Trojans were able to take a knee, and run out the rest of the time on the clock.
The third quarter was all Telfair County with them scoring a touchdown early, then controlling the Panther defense and forcing stops and fumbles all throughout the quarter.
The second quarter was more evenly matched by both teams with an interception made by Telfair early in the quarter, and Portal forcing a punt immediately after. Most of the Portal players have played on both sides of the ball all season, and they were definitely working tonight. Elijah Coleman was the punter, the safety and the quarterback.
Coleman made a great punt halfway through the second that put the ball on the Trojan 25, then deflected a long pass to the endzone. By the end of the quarter Coleman rewarded himself by running the ball in for his first and only touchdown of the game from the 1 yard line.
Senior wide receiver Amir Jackson scored his and Portal’s first touchdown of the game with ease, then almost was put out of the game with a right knee injury at the end of the first quarter.
In this season alone, the Panthers have made school history by: winning the first region championship, first time hosting a second round playoff game, sold out PAC Stadium for the first time ever and were the Erk Russell Classic Champions. This senior class has had quite the turn around coming from their freshman year going 0-11 to being region champions and making it to the second round of the state playoffs.
When we asked head coach, Jason McEachin, about how he felt about his senior class and being a part of their journey this season, he had a lot of great things to say about his seniors and his team.
“We provided some structure and leadership and coached them, but that’s not possible if they don’t have the heart and character that they have,” said McEachin. The pride I got in how these young men compete and how they matured and how they represented Portal.. I’ll never forget it.”
This season, Portal overcame adversity and played with heart, character and commitment. That showed through school pride and the support from the community from the elementary schools cheering the boys on every week to sold out games for the first time in Portal history.
These guys should be nothing but proud of themselves, and you know what they say, history always repeats itself.
