The Portal Panthers are looking to make it back to the state playoffs despite losing a few key players from last year’s squad who advanced to the second round of the state.

Among the players looking to make an impact on this year’s team is senior linebacker Cooper Motes who head coach Jason McEachin is expecting big things from this season.

“Cooper has developed into a really good linebacker for us here at Portal,” McEachin said. “He is a very dependable and hard-working leader for our program. Cooper is also a great teammate and represents our program in a positive way in all that he does. We expect Cooper to play at an All-Region level for us this year.”

“I think the summer has gone well,” Motes said. “I think that we have gotten better and closer as a team throughout the summer. I feel that the strength of our team is our defense. We have some younger guys who will need to step up this year, but the coaches have a good game plan and I think we can get back to state this year.”