Lebanon vs. Portland

[Eddie]

Lebanon senior Jordan Stafford ran for 382 yards on 39 carries and 5 Tds in the 35-26 win. This is the 8th best single game rushing effort in TSSAA history -- certainly an LHS record. Both QBs were beat up, so Stafford was pretty much the only option on offense. He also had seven tackles and an interception.

[firstandgoal]

Great game for Stafford. Injuries are really mounting up for Lebanon with the toughest part of the schedule still to come.

[marked]

Portland has fell off of the football map entirely. I am surprised they are still keeping scores relatively respectable. Did Lebanon feel sorry for this or is it just that WilCo overrated attitude?

[purplepantherpride]

I think Lebanon was just feeling sorry for the Panthers. The Panthers had 4 turnovers, and had a 90 yard int for a touchdown called back.

[firstandgoal]

Portland has fell off of the football map entirely. I am surprised they are still keeping scores relatively respectable. Did Lebanon feel sorry for this or is it just that WilCo overrated attitude?

Actually Portland was much better than I expected. I think they have definitely improved since week 0. As Eddie said, Lebanon was pretty beat up in this one so it wasn't a matter of feeling sorry for the Panthers as it was just not being at full strength. Lebanon isn't good enough to feel sorry for anybody, they are middle of the road in 9-aaa, imo. If Portland doesn't commit the turnovers and Stafford doesn't carry Lebanon on his back, then Portland easily could have won.

[bestlife4ever]

Ok, let's tell it like it is folks - Portland is down, but not out! Give these coaches some credit - yeah, the others were fired, left, whatever - Coach Sanders came into this gig knowing that he had to re-build a program. Building a program he is! You have to give him time. Some of you people get on here with negative stuff and lies! You may be a player but I doubt it? Could you be one of the "former, fired" coaches? Most likely! Coach Sanders is a fine man who does care about his players. He has a great staff who know a lot about football - they will turn this program around. It's tough when your school has a "state championship" under its belt as does Portland. These players practice and then play their hearts out on Friday nights - give them some credit for improving and trying to win instead of giving up and quitting!!!! Keep up the good work coaches and players!!!! Go Portland!!!

[buddyblue]

The Devils obviously need to work of their defense after allowing the Panthers to score 26 points.

 

Speaking of turning a program around, how much time is reasonable to give a new coach to do that? Shoulders came into RBS after a 6 year losing streak and won his first two games right off the bat. McDaniel at Oakland took a non-playoff team and won a state championship his first year at the helm. Creasy at trousdale co. went 15-0 his first year after TC had gone down a bit from former years. Shadowens at Blackman has taken a team who had previously struggled to a 5-0 ranked team in this his first year there. Roger Perry went to Mt. Juliet and got them into the playoffs his first year there after MJ not making it for 3 or 4 years. Our own Coach Brown here LHS quikly turned this program around as well. So we see that rebuilding a program can begin during the first year if the coach has the talent available. If the players were there for Portland, I think you would already be seeing some results in the Win column.