John Novara gets 200th career win as Raiders top Sexton

Friday night was full of activity as the Raiders hosted Lansing Sexton for week eight of the MHSAA football season.  Portland celebrated their annual band night, and the 2024 Portland Athletic Hall of Fame inductees were honored.  On the field, the Raiders defeated the J-Dubbs of Lansing Sexton 33-0 to finish conference play a perfect 7-0, 8-0 overall. 

The Raider offense tacked up 309 yards of total offense in the game while holding the explosive Sexton offense to just 81 total yards.

Junior running back Kayden Dickerson led the Portland rushing attack with 179 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns.  Junior running back Nolan Zbybtowski had 61 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns on the ground and caught one pass for a 24-yard touchdown. 

Portland senior quarterback Domonic Novara went three for eight for 29 yards with one touchdown pass.

For the defense, junior linebacker AJ Weber had nine tackles.  Junior linebacker Brad Meyers had seven tackles and one interception.  Senior defensive back Evan Gross had five tackles.  Senior defensive end Christopher Battley had one tackle and recovered two fumbles.   Junior defensive back Max Sandborn had one fumble recovery.  

Scoring Summary by Quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 7 – 7 – 6 – 13 – 33

Sexton 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

About John Novara

Several former players joined Portland head coach John Novara after the game to celebrate the coaches 200th career win.  Novara started his teaching career in Portland 30 years ago, and took over the reins of the Raider football program in 1999.  In his role as head coach, he has developed one of the top high school football programs in mid-Michigan.  Under Novara the Raiders have only had four losing seasons.  He coached the Raiders to a state championship in 2012, a state runner up in 2018, and multiple semi-final appearances.  Novara’s squad is currently ranked #2 in division four by the Michigan High School Football Association.

You can find Novara’s post-game comments in the video below.

Look ahead at Week Nine

Next week Portland will face one of its toughest challenges of the season as they host the Vikings of Whitehall to close out the regular season.  Whitehall is currently 6-2 with their only losses coming to Hudsonville Unity Christian in week one, and Zeeland West in week three. 

Hall of Fame

The 2024 Portland Athletic Hall of Fame inductees were also honored honored on Friday night.  This year’s class included six individual athletes, a coach, an honorary, and two teams.

Athletes:  Brent Thelen 1993; Lindsay Seal 2003; Tommy Stornant 2004; Erin Holdren 2004; Mackenzie McGrady 2005; and Brittany Grys 2007.

Coach:  Mark Holdren

Honorary:  Brad Foltz (deceased)

1996-97 Wrestling Team:  Jeremy Black, Tom Densmore, Mike Feldpausch, Clay Foltz, Chris Gallt, Ryan Goodman, Chad Guilford, Patrick Guilford, Kyle Huhn, Carl Jackson, Adam Keusch, Ryan MacPhee, Bryan Martin, Nick Martin, Rob Marvin, Aaron Newcombe, Travis Opperman, Dustin Rhodes, Adam Schneider, Curt Schneider, Ben Spitzley, Chris Spitzley, Ted Thelen, Ryan Therrian, and Ryan Vroman.  Coaches:  Mark Holdren, Scott Sandborn and Mark King.

2007 Softball Team:  Taylor Adams, Lorene Brenner, Haley Brown, Sam Feldpausch, Brittany Grys, Jordan Hillis, Brandy Hurl, Katherine Johnson, Jessica Jones, Paige Lowery, Chelsea May, Lindsey Pettit, Paige Richmond, Sierra Riker, and Jessica Stiffler.  Coaches: Jack Anderson, Kelly Grys, and Patti (Fish) Werner.

You can find more information about the inductees HERE.