Portage Northern hands Dowagiac 40-11 setback

Published 8:13 pm Monday, August 30, 2004

By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
PORTAGE -- While many in attendance Friday night worried how Dowagiac would compete against defending Southwestern Athletic Association Central Division champion Portage Northern because of their size, speed and numbers, on Friday night it all came down to basics.
Execution and consistency.
Dowagiac lacked both in a 40-11 loss at Portage Northern in the season openers for both schools.
Dowagiac (0-1) only had about half the numbers of the Huskies, but it wasn't the size and speed that made the difference on Friday night.
A blocked punt and a fumble recovery, both returned for touchdowns, put the Chieftains in a huge first quarter hole they were never able to climb out of.
While Dowagiac's defense played well for most of the night, it spent way too much time on the field against a fast and solid Portage Northern offense.
Portage Northern, which was 8-2 last season, marched down the field on their opening possession against the Chieftains and scored on a 10-yard pass from Matt Andrews to Ryan Bass.
The extra point kick was wide left to make it a 6-0 contest.
On its first possession of the 2004 season, Dowagiac moved the ball early, but was forced to punt around mid-field.
David Stuppy's punt was blocked on a breakdown in blocking and scooped up by Derrick Patton, who raced untouched down the Chieftains' sideline 45-yards to paydirt. Andrews his Ryan Franks with the two-point conversion pass to make it 14-0.
Dowagiac's defense stiffened for the remainder of the first half and kept the Huskies' offense from getting into the end zone. Despite giving up a few big plays via the airways, Dowagiac was able to stifle the Portage Northern ground game.
Matt Comer then took advantage of another Chieftains miscue as he scooped up a Rod Laylin fumble and ran 18 yards untouched into the end zone to make it 21-0 after Andrew Holmes connected on his first point-after-touchdown (PAT) of the season.
Dowagiac did manage to put together one solid drive in the first half which resulted in a 25-yard Hillary Bisnett field goal just before halftime.
Dowagiac got inside the Portage Northern 10 yard line before having to settle for Bisnett's second career field goal.
Neither team scored in the third quarter and it appeared that Dowagiac ran out of gas defensively in the final 12 minutes.
Kenny Fett scored on a one-yard run to make it 28-3 after the Holmes PAT. The Huskies then extended their advantage to 34-3 when Comer caught a 45-yard pass from Andrews. The PAT attempt by Holmes failed.
Dowagiac again showed life offensively as Jason Manley capped off a Chieftain drive with a 10-yard run.
Jesse Cox hit Schuyler File with the two-point conversion pass to complete the scoring for the Chieftains.
Portage Northern (1-0) finished its scoring with a 51-yard scoring jaunt by Fett. Again, the PAT attempt failed.
Dowagiac finished with 156 yards rushing on 28 carries. The Chieftains were just 6-of-15 for 75 yards in the passing department.
McCuddy led the Chieftains with 70 yards rushing on four carries. Manley was the top receiver with 30 yards.
Portage Northern ran for just 110 yards on 28 attempts, however, it did gain 225 yards through the air.
Dowagiac will open up the home portion of its 2004 season on Friday night when it hosts Coldwater in another Southwestern Athletic Conference non-divisional contest.
Coldwater dropped a 56-21 decision to Portage Central in its season opener Friday night.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.