FRANKLIN FURNACE – As hard as it was for the Green Bobcats offense to be stopped, their defense had the same problem.

Green saw a 14-point fourth quarter lead evaporate and the Portsmouth East Tartans got a touchdown in overtime to beat the Bobcats 28-22 Friday in a pivotal Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We couldn’t make a big stop on defense when we needed it,” Green coach Kevin Sheridan said. “We kept (Dustin) Bradford and (Brian) Collins under control except in the fourth quarter when we needed to.”

Green got the ball first in overtime and couldn’t muster any offense. East took its turn and scored on a 1-yard run by quarterback Josh Bailey.

The Bobcats ball-control offense kept East off the field in the first half and the defense made some key stops in limiting the Tartans to 74 first half yards.

But things changed in the second half.

“They got a big stop on defense when they needed to and then the momentum swung and they marched it down our throats,” Sheridan said.

East ran only six plays in the first quarter. Green converted two fourth down plays and used a 44-yard, 15-play drive to score. Josh Rhea caught a 3-yard pass from Jon Butler for the touchdown and James McGuire took the conversion pass for an 8-0 lead.

O its next possession, Green marched 85 yards in 13 plays with Corey Dyer going 13 yards for the touchdown. Butler and McGuire teamed up again on the conversion to make it 16-0 with 8:15 left in the half.

East managed to score before the half on a 3-yard run by Brian Collins. Bailey threw to Chase Mault for the conversion and the Tartans trailed 16-8.

Green extended its lead to 22-8 on a 9-yard keeper by Butler with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

But East shut down the Green offense in the fourth quarter and used touchdown runs of 5 yards by Matt Owens and 1-yard by Bailey to get within 22-20. Bradford added the conversion run on the second touchdown to tie the game with just 1:43 to go in regulation.

Dyer topped Green with 106 yards on 27 carries. Butler had 72 yards and McGuire 62 as the Bobcats racked up 240 yards rushing as a team.

Converted wide receiver Gary Truman led East with 70 yards on seven tries.

Green fell to 4-5 and 1-2 in the SOC. East is 4-5 and leads the SOC at 3-0.

Ports. East080146=28

Green88600=22

First Quarter

Gr – Josh Rhea 3 pass from Jon Butler (James McGuire pass from Butler) 4:02

Second Quarter

Gr – Corey Dyer 13 run (James McGuire pass from Jon Butler) 8:15

PE – Brian Collins 3 run (Chase Mault pass from Josh Bailey) 3:26

Third Quarter

Gr – Jon Butler 9 run (pass failed) 4:25

Fourth Quarter

PE – Matt Owens 5 run (run failed) 10:36

PE – Josh Bailey 1 run (Dustin Bradford run) 1:43

Overtime

PE – Josh Bailey 1 run (no attempt)

PEGr

First downs1214

Rushes-yards42-20349-240

Passing yards3531

Total yards238271

Cmp-Att-Int3-5-05-7-0

Fumbles-lost1-11-0

Penalties-yards2-201-10

Punts-average1-43.01-30.0

Individual Leaders

RUSHING-Ports. East: Dustin Bradford 10-62, Brian Collins 12-24, Josh Bailey 5-17, Matt Owens 8-30, Gary Truman 7-70; Green: James McGuire 12-62, Corey Dyer 27-106, Jon Butler 10-72.

PASSING-Ports. East: Josh Bailey 3-5-0 35; Green: Jon Butler 5-7-0 31.

RECEIVING-Ports. East: Nathan Hood 1-19, Gary Truman 2-16; Green: Matt Clark 1-17, James McGuire 1-13, Josh Rhea 1-3, Corey Dyer 2-minus 2.