Lansing Catholic Wins A Classic Over Portland 31-29
The Portland Raiders rallied from a 28-7 second-half deficit to take a 29-28 lead over Lansing Catholic with 43 seconds left. But the Cougars got down the field in time and senior kicker Jonah Richards hit a 33 yard field goal as time ran out to give the Cougars a thrilling 31-29 victory over Portland on Friday night at Cougar Stadium.
It was Richards' longest field goal of the year and with the win, Catholic clinches a share of the CAAC White title with one game left in conference play.
Catholic was led by senior quarterback Joey Baker, who was 19-31 for 344 yards and three touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver Alex Watters had 12 catches for 197 yards and two scores.
Portland was led by their senior quarterback Hayden Getchall, who went 9-19 for 115 yards and a score. And he ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns (plus a 2-point conversion) on 16 carries.
The Cougars intercepted a pair of Getchall's passes and turned them into 14 points in the first half. But the Raiders rallied behind the legs and arm of Getchall as well as the legs of running back Caden Galey, who rushed for 72 yards and a score.
When the Raiders trailed 28-7 early in the second half, Getchall accounted for almost all of Portland's points. He scored two touchdowns on the ground, and threw a 14 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ethan Patrick with 43 seconds left to pull Portland within 28-27.
Instead of kicking the extra point to tie, Portland head coach John Novara elected to go for two and the win. Getchall took it in to give them the lead 29-28.
After a good kick return to their own 35-yard line, Catholic completed a 26 yards pass to get them close to field goal range. And then completed another 16 yard pass to the 16 yard line before calling their last time out with two seconds left to set up Richards' heroics.
With the win, Catholic is now 6-0 overall, 4-0 in CAAC White play. Portland drops to 5-1 overall, 3-1 in league play. Both teams remain state title contenders as they are highly ranked (Catholic number 1 in Division 6, Portland number 3 in Division 5) in this week Associated Press poll.