Eagles fall to Portage

Clay Iverson knows there won’t be as many wins this season. Sauk Prairie’s football coach understands his team won’t match the six victories the 2019 team produced and won’t head to the playoffs like last year’s team did. But Iverson continues to see improvement. And for now, he’ll take it. Sauk Prairie had its best effort of the year last Friday before falling to Portage, 26-16. The Eagles lost their first three games of the year by an average of 26.7 points, but hung tough with the Warriors. “We battled hard the entire game and we are improving,” said Iverson, whose team fell to 0-4. “So as a coach that is all you can ask for.” Sauk Prairie made a switch at quarterback, and Damien Wright-Rodriguez had a strong game, completing 8-of-11 passes for 130 yards. The move also allowed Ethan Gibbs to move to running back, and he produced a pair of touchdown runs. “Damien is a good quarterback, so is Ethan,” Iverson said. “Making the move helped us in a lot of areas freeing Ethan up to play on defense and on special teams.   “So having Damien play quarterback with his skill set and Ethan play all over the place made sense. It wasn’t really anything anyone did or didn’t do.” Portage’s Ethan Bleich was tough for the Eagles to handle. Bleich, a junior running back, carried 26 times for 161 yards and a pair of touchdowns. “He’s a physical player. One of the leaders of our program and team, and he runs the ball hard — he gives great effort play in, play out,” Warriors coach Shane Haak told the Portage Daily Register of Bleich. “It was just great effort on his part. He was able to break some tackles and obviously he was a big part of what we did.” Portage jumped to a 12-0 lead, before Gibbs ripped off a 15-yard touchdown run late in the first half to pull the Eagles within 12-8. But the Warriors finished the half with a long touchdown drive that included a 52-yard run by Bleich and a 2-yard touchdown run from Jordan Starr to make it 18-8. Portage then opened the second half with a 9-play, 70-yard TD drive that Bleich finished with a 3-yard touchdown. Starr converted the two-point conversion to make it 26-8. “A lot of football is how you end halves and how you start halves,” Iverson said. “I give Portage credit, they played very hard. I thought our guys played really hard.  “I thought the game came down to about four or five football plays — not series — that they made. I’ve got to coach our guys to hopefully make them next time.” Sauk Prairie closed within 26-16 with 6:38 left on another TD run from Gibbs. But the Eagles couldn’t get any closer. “Most of it was things they did well,” Iverson said. “We can’t control that. We have to keep improving on the offensive side of the ball and not turn the ball over. So in the end give them credit for making a few more plays then we did.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie is at Baraboo (3-1) Friday. The Thunderbirds are in the midst of an impressive season, and their only loss was a 20-19 loss to Division 1 Sussex Hamilton. In Baraboo’s other three games — all wins — it has allowed just three total points. “They are a big strong football team that has some star power,” Iverson said. “The main key is we will have to keep getting better this week. That is always what we focus on.”   PORTAGE 26,  SAUK PRAIRIE 16 Sauk Prairie …. 0  8  0  8 — 16 Portage ……..  12  6  8  0 — 26 P: Karpelenia 25 pass from Thompson (kick failed) P: Bleich 2 run (kick failed) SP: Gibbs 15 run (run good) P: Starr 2 run (kick failed) P: Bleich 3 run (run good) SP: Gibbs 1 run (run good) TEAM STATISTICS First downs — SP 15, P 8. Rushing (Att.-Yds.) — SP 35-86; P 42-180. Passing yards — SP 130; P 25. Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) — SP 8-11-0; P 1-2-0. Penalties-yards — SP 7-50; P 6-70. Fumbles-lost — SP 1-1; P 1-0. INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing — SP: Uselman 11-37; P: Bleich 26-161. Passing — SP: Wright-Rodriguez 8-11-0-130; P: Thompson 1-2-1-25. Receiving — SP: Diehl 6-75; P: Karpelenia 1-25.