The Portal Panthers bounced back nicely from a lopsided loss to ECI as they went on the road and knocked off Claxton last Friday by a score of 35-0 to improve to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in region play. This week they go up against a 2-3 Screven County team in an elimination game as the loser will be out of the playoff hunt.

“This was the first game this season where I felt like we came out and executed in all three phases of the game for all four quarters,” said coach Jason McEachin. “The defense got a stop early, they had a special teams blunder and we took advantage of that by scoring. That gave us momentum and we just went on from there as we executed well.”

Last week the Panther offense came to like putting up just under 300 yards of offense. Most of that came on the ground as six different backs helped pitch in.

“We have had a lot of different guys run the ball for us this year,” McEachin said. “For the season we are averaging over six yards per carry and that also says a lot about the offensive line blocking. We had four guys with 50 yards or more which shows balance and keeps our guys fresh.”

This week the Panthers return home as they will host Screven County. The Gamecocks are in the same boat as Portal having to win-out to make the postseason. They snapped a three-game losing streak Friday with a 21-0 win over Savannah High.

“We have been in playoff mode since last week which means we have to win this game to have a chance at making the playoffs,” McEachin said. “Screven County is a young team like us and have had some very similar scores as us against common opponents. They are led by their running back A.B. Hilton who has rushed for nearly 700 yards and six touchdowns. He is a threat to score at any time and we are going to have to contain him to be successful.”

Screven County and Portal are scheduled for a 7:30 kickoff Friday at the Portal Athletic Complex.