Shamrocks advance to Regional Final

On Saturday, October 28th, the Portland St. Patrick Shamrocks hosted familiar league foe Fulton. The Shamrocks had just beaten the Pirates by a score of 37-34 only a few weeks ago, and Fulton came with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove after knocking off undefeated CC-C last week to make the playoffs. Today the Shamrocks were the better team, and outlasted the Pirates winning the game 42-34.

In the first quarter, the Shamrocks marched right down the field on the opening drive, capping it with a 18 yard touchdown scramble from QB Brady Leonard. Lucas Simon punched in the two point conversion. Fulton came right back, and a few plays later they broke a long one and tied the score 8-8 after one quarter.

The second quarter saw the Pirates take an early lead, but he Shamrocks punching in two scores before the half on a pair of Brady Leonard runs (40 yards, 8 yards) and a Tyler Groothuis extra point, leaving the score 21-14 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Pirates take the lead again as they held the Shamrocks scoreless, and left the score 22-21 Fulton after three quarters of play.

The fourth quarter was a ton of fun and excitement, with the Shamrocks scoring early, and Fulton answering every time the Shamrocks pulled ahead. Particularly exciting was a late goal line stand to stop the Pirate two point conversion that protected the Shamrock lead with a few minutes left. The Shamrocks played great defense, and finally Lucas Simon broke loose on a 67 yard touchdown to make the final score 42-34.

Offensive leaders for the game were Brady Leonard who went 4 for 10 for 116 yards and 1 touchdown and carried the ball 15 times for 116 yards and 4 touchdowns, Tyler Groothuis had 4 highlight worthy catches for 116 yards and 1 touchdown, and Lucas Simon had 115 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown.

Defensive leaders were Riley Mosser who had 17 tackles, Brayden Simon who had 11 tackles and 2 tackles for loss (TFL) , Devin Cook with 10 tackles and one TFL, and Tyler Groothuis with 9 tackles.

The Shamrocks play Deckerville on Saturday, November 4th at 2:00 pm for the Regional Championship at Portland High School. The last time these teams met was in 2012, in the State Semi-Finals.