Portageville gives unbeaten Hayti a scare

HAYTI - The Hayti Indians scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on Friday night to hold off the Portageville Bulldogs 14-6 in a SEMO South matchup.

The Bulldogs appeared poised to pull off the upset of the Class 1A No. 5 ranked Indians, leading 6-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

But Hayti fullback Charles Gaines, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound behemoth, busted off a 16-yard TD run. He then ran in the two-point conversion to give the Indians an 8-6 lead.

Demarcus Stewart scored a 2-yard TD run later in the quarter to secure the win.

"(Portageville) is so much better than they were last year," said Hayti head coach David Gilmore. "They're a very good team -- the best we've faced this year. I really feel like they have a chance to win districts and make a run in the playoffs."

Portageville took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, racking up 75 yards of offense in the first half.

But Hayti's defense totally dominated the second half, limiting Portageville to minus-five yards of offense.

Hayti (6-0) has held every team they've played this year to less than 100 yards of offense. The Indian defense has allowed just two touchdowns this year.

"We felt like this game was for the conference championship," said Gilmore. "We know there are still some games to play, but we felt like Portageville was our top competition. We looked at this game like it was the championship game. It's kind of good that this happened. We haven't been behind hardly all year. What a fantastic job Coach (Jim) McKay has done with them. To go from 0-9 to 4-2 is unbelievable."

Hayti gained 295 yards of offense. Quarterback Matt Morgan rushed for 93 yards on nine carries. Torey Nelson rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries while Stewart had 66 yards on nine carries.

Final statistics for Portageville were unavailable. The Bulldogs are now 4-2 on the season and will have an open date next Friday. Hayti will host Scott City next Friday.