White House 20, Portland 6 (Craig Harris, The Tennessean recap)
The Portland-White House rivalry still special (Tom Kreager)

By Kris Freeman
White House Football

A plus-seven turnover ratio is a key statistic for football teams looking to stay on top of their opponents over the course of a season. For the White House Blue Devils Friday night, the number was accomplished in one game.

White House scored all three touchdowns off Portland turnovers, opening the season with a 20-6 victory over the rival Panthers at Dewey H. Whitson Stadium. Portland fumbled seven times, losing four, and threw three interceptions in a losing effort. White House, meanwhile, held onto the football and did not turn it over. This was White House's fifth win over PHS in six tries and closed the all-time gap to 22-18 in favor of the Panthers.

"The one thing that we struggled with during scrimmages was turning the ball over, and tonight that is where we showed the most improvement," said White House head coach Jeff Porter. "I feel good about our chances any time you get that many turnovers, but I am as pleased with our own stat as the number we got. That showed some maturity by our team."

The game featured a matchup of sophomore quarterbacks looking to make an impact in the early season, with Trox Greenwade connecting on 6-of-13 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown to lead the Blue Devils. But Portland's young signal caller was forced under center on the third play of the game, as sophomore Ried Gurchiek took over for Colton Williamson when the starting quarterback left the game following a heavy collision with Chase Neal on the home sideline.

Williamson threw three picks in the first half, including two by Chad Neal, and a one-handed snag by Matthew Parker. But not only was pressure on the passing game, but White House literally forced seven fumbles with physical contact, with Eric Dorris, Kody Littles, Kirk Fulghum and Zach Byrd all picking up loose balls.

The biggest was in the third quarter, as Portland's Dominique Roe blocked a field goal and led to a Portland touchdown. But on consecutive drives, the Panthers coughed up the football in White House territory, with the final time coming on a second and goal sneak by Gurchiek - and the forced fumble by Jarrette Anderson was picked up by Littles in the endzone for a touchback. Portland trailed 20-6, and never got the ball back, as White House marched 18 plays and 78 yards to the Panthers' two yard line and kneeled on the football after running out the final 10 minutes of the game.

"The kids were very focused this week, and we had a good week of practice," Porter explained. "And as long as you keep making tackles and get in the huddle and make the next play, some positive happens - and then we get the fumble on the one yard line.

"I was impressed with our kids striking ability to knock the ball loose. I was pleased with the turnovers, but we had more opportunities to take control of the game and we didn't. We could have easily lost control of the game, but our kids made some plays and regained control. I didn't realize the length of time of the final drive, but a drive like that can be very positive for our football team."

Junior DeMarqus Payne and sophomore Bryan Dixon were the highlights from the White House backfield, as Payne scampered for 83 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, while Dixon added 98 yards on 18 attempts. Both of them would have eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the game, but each had a long touchdown run called back on a penalty in the second half.

Payne's third-quarter touchdown run would have made it 18-0, but the penalty negated the play and Portland blocked a field goal and marched down the field to cut the lead to 12-6 on Gurchiek's 18-yard quarterback keeper. White House was forced to punt, but Littles popped the ball loose from Dee Mayes on the second Portland play and Dorris recovered with 2:16 to go in the third quarter.

Dixon carried for two yards, then Greenwade found Parker for 60 yards wide open across the middle for the longest score of the night. Zack Duty, who had three receptions for 46 yards including two big third-down catches, also caught the two-point conversion for a 20-6 margin. Portland moved the ball into scoring position and fumbled for their last attempt at cutting the lead.

"Portland really played hard and put a lot of people at the line, determined to take away the run," Porter said. "They forced the hand of us having to throw and fortunately we came up with the one big pass.

"The one area we really hurt ourselves outside of the penalties was the kicking game. I'm most disappointed in the field goal and the PAT and that will lose a game as quick as anything, and we have to work in practice to improve."

Gurchiek finished the game 5-of-12 passing for 59 yards, with seven carries for 44 yards and a touchdown to lead the Panthers. David South carried 10 times for 73 yards and Roe added 63 yards on seven attempts. White House was led on defense by Chad Neal, Fulghum and Byrd with six tackles each, and Parker added five.

"You saw a lot of kids out there playing tonight who had never been in a high school football game before," Porter said of his young team. "We had no jamboree, so this was their first time stepping on the field. That's encouraging, and when we hurt ourselves, we were aggressive and not passive.

"You can work with kids who have an aggressive nature and our kids tried to be aggressive tonight."

White House (1-0) moves on in non-region play to take on Alcoa, the three-time defending state champion in Class 2-A. The Tornadoes are coached by former Riverdale head coach Gary Rankin, a close friend of Coach Porter, and this will be the first meeting between the schools and the head coaches, though they scrimmaged when Rankin was at Smith County.