By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac junior varsity football team rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to remain undefeated Thursday night.
The Chieftains outscored visiting Portage Central at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field 19-8 in the second half to pull out the 25-24 victory.
Dowagiac scored 19 unanswered points in the second half before Portage Central came roaring back.
The Mustangs scored on the game's final play and added a two-point conversion to complete the scoring.
Dowagiac (2-0) got a pair of touchdown receptions from Troy Stover from Jake Cox, while Kyle Prak scored the go-ahead touchdown.
Bill Davis, a defensive lineman, picked off a pass and scored to complete the scoring for the Chieftains.
Dowagiac recovered three fumbles and had the Davis interception in the second half.
Dowagiac hits the road next Thursday night as it travels to Kalamazoo to take on Kalamazoo Central.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m
Freshmen football
The Dowagiac freshmen football team dropped a 22-0 decision to visiting Portage Central Thursday afternoon at Chris Taylor-Alumni Field.
Machiniak singled out Andrew Hurrle, Tim DeRyder, Jeremy Nowak, Michael Sirk and Kent Emerson for their play on defense.
Darnell Tartt had an interception.
On offense, Aaron Caldwell, Shaun Breuns and Joel Martinez played well, he said.