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On Friday night, September 5th, 2008, Western New York Football began, and Portville dominated Randolph 30-14 during
Week One in Portville. This was a huge game for Section 6, Class DD..between perennial winners.
After
fumbling on their first series, and allowing Randolph to score the first TD, the Panthers of Portville buckled down and took
command of MOST of the rest of the game.
Basically, PCS won the game in the trenches, as they
rushed for 225 yards on 40 attempts and held the Cardinals to only 40 yards (29 attempts) on the ground. Even though Randolph
completed 8 of 12 pass attempts, gaining 89 yards through the air, the Panthers won the special teams game, the D game, and
the O game in solid fashion...before an estimated crowd of 1,500.
Leading the way for Portville was
senior RB Luke Hellwig, who carried the pigskin 25 times for 200 yards, including a 42-yard TD. He saw pay-dirt 4 times during
the game, giving the Panthers the upper-hand for the rest of the contest. After the game, Luke was quick to give credit to
the big men in front of him. "It was all the line. It was all the line."
"The biggest game of the
year was the first game of the year," commented Big Jim Hawbaker, a long-time fan of Big 30 football. "Whenever Portville,
Randolph, and Maple Grove play each other, the result always affects the entire season. And Portville played very tough tonight.
Pat Slater always puts together a competitive team, but the Panthers had more."
Also starring for
Portville were senior QB Andy LaBorde, who was 4 for 4 and 50 yards in passing, all to senior Jeremy Spehar, including a 23-yard
TD. Linemen Dave Levia, Nick Sosnowski, Samer AlHumadi, and company were the real heroes though.
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