The Portal Panthers came up just shy in their comeback effort last Friday against Screven County as they fell 26-21 dropping to 3-5 overall and 2-4 in region play. The loss ended any chance of a return trip to the state playoffs as the Panthers get ready to hit the road to McIntosh County Academy this Friday.

The Panthers have fallen just short a couple times this year and a frustrated head coach Jason McEachin is stuck having to think about what could have been for his team.

Last Friday played out like a few of our other games unfortunately,” McEachin said. “We allow an early touchdown, and then turn the ball over just before the half. If we just don’t do one of those things we probably come out with a win. To our kids credit they haven’t quit battling and I expect us to continue to fight this week.”

This week the Panthers hit the road to play a much-improved MCA team who they handled easily last year winning 27-0 in Darien. This time around the Bucs are 6-3 and 5-2 in region play. They come in after a 46-6 win over Savannah High and are led by quarterback Nehemiah West with 750 yards passing and 10 touchdowns, and sophomore running back Earnest Mcintosh who has 688 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

“Coach Bradley Warren and his staff have done a great job getting this team back together,” McEachin said. “They are very fast on defense and really only have one defensive lineman and a lot of fast players and they are built for speed and penetration. On offense they are better than last year as West was hurt and he is back this year. He can scramble and make plays with his feet. We will try and shorten the game and run the ball and try and make it a low-scoring game and try and pull the upset.”