PORTAL - Perhaps the only thing that didn’t go right for Portal’s Elijah Coleman on Friday night was him not winning Homecoming King, an honor that went to his teammate, Amir Jackson.

Coleman did everything else for Portal on the Panthers’ homecoming night. He returned a fumble for a touchdown, scored a rushing touchdown, returned a punt for a touchdown, and threw a touchdown pass, all in the first half, to lead Portal to an 40-0 win over rival Emanuel County Institute on a rainy Friday the 13th at the Portal Athletic Complex.

Coleman finished the game with 48 yards rushing and two touchdowns and throwing for another 117 and a score. He also tallied another 123 yards in kick returns.

“When he’s playing like that, we can compete with anybody in the state in our classification,” said Head Coach Jason McEachin. “Not only that, but his senior leadership in practice and in the school building, he’s shown tremendous growth.

“As a playmaker, I’ve never coached a kid like him,” McEachin said. 

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs (3-4, 0-1) fumbled on their opening play from scrimmage and Coleman recovered at the 40, eluded a Bulldog defender and then raced to the corner of the endzone to give the Panthers (5-3, 2-0) an early 6-0 lead after the two-point conversion failed. 

ECI settled down on their next possession, driving methodically from their 26 to the Panthers’ 37 before the drive stalled. A low snap on the Bulldogs’ punt resulted in ECI unable to get the kick away and the Panthers were able to swarm and stop the scramble at their 43.

It took Portal four plays, aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, to find the endzone again. This time, Coleman scored on a five yard run on a designed roll out. Unable to find an open receiver, Coleman turned upfield and easily scampered into the endzone for the score. He found Jackson on the two-point conversion to make the score 14-0.

On the second play of the second quarter, ECI was again forced to punt. Coleman received the punt deep inside Panther territory and proceeded to electrify the crowd with an 80-yard touchdown return that saw him elude the first tackler, race right, cut back to the left, make more defenders miss before cutting towards the middle of the field. Finally he made the last defender miss at the ECI 20 as he again cut left and strolled into the endzone for his third touchdown of the first half. 

Portal would add another touchdown late in the half when Coleman led Portal on a 90 yard drive, passing for 67 yards on the drive, ending with a 12-yard score to Charles McNeal. Hayden Scott’s PAT extended Portal’s lead to 27-0 with 46 remaining before halftime.

The win was Portal’s first win over ECI since a 17-7 win in 2011.

Defensively, Portal held the Bulldogs to 219 total yards and only 74 in the second half.

“David Seigler, our defensive coordinator, and our defensive coaches did a great job preparing the kids. Our guys did a great job keeping their eye discipline, being where they’re supposed to be, rallying to the ball, tackling well and just being very opportunistic when they had the opportunity to get the ball back,” McEachin said of his defense. 

Homecoming week presents its own challenges and McEachin said he didn’t spend any time telling his team what not to do as they prepared for ECI.

“I told them early in the week that what mattered to them most would guide their decision making,” he said. “If the game and performing well on Friday night mattered to them the most then what they did throughout the week would reflect that and I think that’s exactly what they did. 

The second half saw Portal continue to dominate as they opened the third quarter with an 80 yard drive that only needed five plays. The big play was a 35 yard end around to Jackson to open the drive.

Four plays later, Coleman ran it in from 10 yards out. An Alfredo Hernandez PAT made the score 34-0.

The Panthers would close out the scoring late in the third quarter on a 50 yard drive that saw Portal convert a third and 18 with a pass from Coleman to Charles McNeal for 33 yards to kickstart the drive. Four plays later, freshman KJ Hunter took it in from nine yards out to make it 40-0. 

Portal would finish the night with 259 total yards of offense. Hunter led the team with his 66 yards rushing on 12 carries. McNeal had 45 yards on two receptions while Jackson added 38 yards on two catches and an additional 35 yards on the ground.

“(This win) keeps a lot of things on the table that we’ve been talking about. Hosting a playoff game. Competing for a region championship,” McEachin said. 

The Panthers will have a week off before traveling to McIntosh County on October 27 for another region matchup.