Raiders turn back Panthers
Elmo Weeks
Savannah Christian wins 9th straight game this season
Savannah Christian coach Donald Chumley's voice was hoarse by the time his team walked away from Garden City Stadium with a closer-than-expected 21-7 win over Portal.
Chumley's vocal cords were strained from begging his team to pay attention to the game.
The Raiders committed three turnovers and struggled at times to gain yards, but eventually wore down the Panthers to extend their streak of regular season victories to 19. Before the game started, Savannah Christian had already won the East subregion in Region 3A and knew it would play the No. 4 team from the West next week for a berth in the state playoffs.
And for most of four quarters, the Raiders played like the game didn't matter.
"We definitely came out a little full of ourselves, but you have to be able to win ugly and we have won ugly several times lately," said Chumley, whose team hasn't lost a region game since 2007. "Right now we need to put it all back together, and it's all got to start clicking again."
While rotating quarterbacks Harrison Curry and Johnathon Chamblee for most of the game, Savannah Christian's constant producer was fullback Chris Johnston. The sophomore carried 27 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns and more importantly didn't commit a turnover.
The game was tied at halftime, but the Raiders stopped Portal's first possession and immediately engineered a scoring drive during which Johnston carried seven times, including a 5-yard touchdown run that made the score 14-7 with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
After Portal could not make any headway against the Savannah Christian defense, Johnston finished the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter that ended a 35-yard drive. Savannah Christian recovered an onside kick but fumbled possession back to the Panthers.
"At this point, you take a win any way you can get it," Chumley said. "It is what it is, but our players need to know that it's important for us to put together some great practices because we've got some tough weeks ahead of us."
Savannah Christian scored on its first possession when Curry found junior Kenny Katzman for a 26-yard touchdown pass only eight minutes into the game. On the drive, Johnston carried nine times for 40 yards before Curry and Katzman hooked up.
Portal answered on its first possession with an 18-play, 57-yard touchdown drive during which the Panthers converted three fourth-downs into first-downs. Sophomore scatback Corey Walker scored on fourth- and-goal from the Savannah Christian 4.
After allowing five first-downs and 67 rushing yards in the first half, the Savannah Christian defense only gave up one first down on a pass interference penalty in the second half.
PHS 0 7 0 0 - 7
SCPS 7 0 7 7 - 21
SCPS--Harrison Curry 26-yard pass to Kenny Katzman (Timothy McCarthy kick)
PHS--Corey Walker 4-yard run (Nick McCranie kick)
SCPS--Chris Johnston 5-yard run (McCarthy kick)
SCPS--Johnston 1-yard run (McCarthy kick)
PHS SCPS
First downs 6 13
Rushing 77183
Passing 1126
Att.-Comp-Int.1-5-11-5-0
Fumbles-lost 2-13-3
Punts-avg 3-342-33
Penalties 6-643-21