It was a game featuring a pair of highly talented offenses, but the defenses stole the show.
Portland earned its first championship ever in any sport by defeating Grand Rapids West Catholic 12-9 in the Division 5 championship game November 24 at Ford Field.
The Raiders did all their scoring in the first half and let the defense take care of business in the second half.
Portland, whose only loss was 41-32 to Lansing Catholic, ended the season at 13-1. West Catholic, 10-4, had won the title in 2010. This year, the Falcons started out 1-3 before winning nine straight to get to the state final.
“Grand Rapids West Catholic has a great team and the best defense we’ve seen all year long,” said Portland coach John Novara. “We’ve been able to move the ball up and down the field against almost everybody. Our kids played great defense and held a prolific offense to seven points. They kept battling all night long.”
Prior to the state title game, only once had the Raiders not scored at least 27 points in a game.
“We knew this would be a tough physical game and we would have to make some plays,” said West Catholic coach Dan Rohn. “We left some points on the board and it hurt us. We’ll learn from this. Our goal was to be here in the end and have a chance to win the state championship.”
The Raiders scored on their first possession with an 83-yard drive and a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tanner Allison.
The second Portland touchdown came under bizarre circumstances. Adam Goodman intercepted a Falcon pass in the end zone but decided to run it out and got to the Portland six.
“They ran the same play early in the game,” Goodman said. “Coach said watch the play, I sat there and intercepted it.”
On the second play from scrimmage, Allison passed to a wide open Auston Brandt at the 50, but Brandt dropped the football. On the next play, Allison, who was nearly sacked before he got off the pass, threw long again to Brandt, who hauled it in this time for a 94-yard touchdown play. But again, Portland didn’t convert on the PAT, and it was 12-0.
Late in the half, West Catholic got on the board following a 69-yard drive and it was 12-7.
In the third quarter, West Catholic almost took the lead when Andy Corey bolted over left tackle and raced toward the end zone. But he was stopped at the Raider 6 for a 37-yard gain on a touchdown-saving tackle by Portland’s Dylan Carroll, a key play considering the Falcons couldn’t punch it in and instead tried for a Travis Hoving field goal try, which was blocked.
Later, Allison was sacked in the end zone for a West Catholic safety. Portland got the ball back at its own 13 and drove to the West Catholic 33 before fumbling it to the Falcons with 4:27 to play.
“With the playmakers, they have you always wonder if you can stop them one more time,” Novara said. “We have 10 seniors that play on defense. We have 10 kids that led us all year long in the weight room, working hard and staying positive. Our defense kind of carried us this year and let our offense grow up.”
West Catholic drove to the Portland 9-yard line before running out of downs.
“We only have three guys that go both ways, and we get more fresh guys on the field that didn’t feel the effect of that fumble,” Novara said. “We put a new bunch of kids on the field. I think it’s great we have all those one-way starters.”
Rohn elected to try for the touchdown rather than a go-ahead field goal.
“We’ve attempted three field goals the last two games and haven’t made any of them,” Rohn said. “We thought this was a chance to win the football game.”
West Catholic had a 350-345 edge in total yards. Portland had to rely on passing for 214 yards from Allison. Its rushing only netted 131 yards, 45 of which were from Allison, the team’s leading rusher.
“Our defense might be one of the most underrated defenses around,” Rohn said. “[Nose guard] Danny Green was on the state championship team two years ago when I think we held Olivet to zero yards rushing. If Portland couldn’t have thrown the ball today, I don’t think they would have scored any points either. They made some plays and we didn’t in the long run.”
“When we got down into the red zone is when they were able to pack it in the box and have some success against us,” Rohn said.
“It was very physical and that’s what we expected,” Rohn said. “We played Portland in 2010 and I’ve been saying all week that’s the most physical team we played in 2010. We don’t back down from anybody.”
“I talked to several of the coaches that have been here and they gave me great advice,” Novara said. “The one thing they said is to be true to yourself. I would have liked to have put a few more points on the board, but we’ll take a victory at this point.”