Portland Football tops Olivet in Home Opener

The Portland Raiders hosted the Eagles of Olivet on Friday for Portland’s home opener in week two of the MHSAA 2024 football season. 

Portland junior running back Kayden Dickerson opened scoring in the first quarter of play with a 42-yard touchdown run.  The extra point failed giving Portland a early 6-0 lead.

The Raiders next points came in the second quarter when junior running back Brody Moore ran it into the endzone for a two-yard touchdown.  Portland's conversion attempt was no good and the Raiders stood with a 12-0 lead. 

Olivet got their only score of the game in the second quarter when senior quarterback Patrick Priesman connected with junior Dawson Feldpausch for a four-yard touchdown pass.  The conversion for Olivet was no good and Portland’s lead was cut to 12-6.

In the fourth quarter, Portland senior running back Keaton McGregor broke free for an impressive 44-yard touchdown run.  Senior quarterback Dominic Novara connected with McGregor on the two-point conversion giving the Raiders a 20-6 lead.

McGregor would find the endzone one more time in the game, this time on a 22-yard touchdown run.  Portland’s point after try was no good.

As time expired, Portland picked up a 26-6 victory. 

Dickerson tallied 18 carries, 161 yards and one touchdown in the game.  McGregor finished with four carries, 95 yards, and two touchdowns.  Novara finished seven for nine passing for 42 total yards.

Junior linebacker AJ Weber led the Raider defense with 11 tackles.  Moore finished with 10 tackles.

When asked about his team’s performance in the game, Portland Head Coach John Novara said, “They battled hard in the second half.  We had to make a couple of adjustments.  We have some young kids playing in our secondary.  They beat us with throwing the ball a little bit, but we held them to six points.  I think we have a lot of things that we need to clean up, but I am proud of their effort tonight.  We are 2-0 and we have a tough game next week so we have got to be ready to go.”

Scoring summary by quarter:

1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – Final

Portland 6 – 6 – 0 – 7 – 26

Olivet 0 – 6 – 0 – 0 – 6

With the win, Portland improves to 2-0 overall on the season, 1-0 in CAAC White play.  Next week they travel to Ionia for another CAAC White league contest.  The Bulldogs are also 2-0 after week two.  The defeated Belding 20-6 in week one, and beat Eaton Rapids 43-7 in week two.

Other week two results in the CAAC White:

Charlotte 35, Lakewood 0

Sexton 13, Lansing Catholic 9