Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PORTSMOUTH — Austin Hollins took matters into his own hands.

Hollins scored three first quarter touchdowns to ignite a 30-point first half as the Portsmouth Trojans beat the South Point Pointers 55-28 on Friday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

Hollins caught touchdown passes of 28 and 14 yards from Cole Lowery and also returned an interception 34 yards as the Trojans took a 22-0 first quarter lead.

Lowery threw a 37-yard touchdown strike to Luke Purdy late in the second quarter and it was 30-0.

The Pointers (2-5, 1-3) cut the deficit to 30-8 with four seconds left in the half on a 1-yard scoring run by Matt Keeney.

Portsmouth (3-4, 2-2) blew the game open with a rare occurrence. Omaru Carter returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown and teammate Zach Delotell followed with a 26-yard fumble return less than a minute later and it was 42-8.

Chris Johnson ran 7 yards for a touchdown as Portsmouth went up 48-8 with 6:49 on the third quarter clock.

South Point used touchdown runs of 36 yards by John Kuhn and 37 by Zack Layman to cut the spread to 48-22.

Portsmouth erased any South Point hopes of a comeback on a 2-yard scoring run by Darray Richardson with 6:20 to go that put the lead at 55-22.

Layman broke loose for a 73-yard scoring run with 5:40 to play that set the final score.

Layman finished with 165 yards on eight carries. Kuhn had 45 yards on five attempts. Quarterback Joel Morrison was 1-of-2 for 38 yards to Isaiah Adams.

The Trojans had 329 total yards as they ran for 126 yards and Lowery was 7-of-11 for 203 yards and three scores.

South Point hosts Symmes Valley next Friday in a non-league game.

South Point 0 8 14 6 = 28

Portsmouth 22 8 18 7 = 55

First Quarter

Prt — Austin Hollins 28 pass from Cole Lowery (conversion failed) 7:53

Prt — Austin Hollins 34 interception return (conversion good) 6:24

Prt — Austin Hollins 14 pass from Cole Lowery (conversion good) 1:00

Second Quarter

Prt — Luke Purdy 37 pass from Cole Lowery (conversion good) 2:45

SP — Matt Keeney 1 run (conversion good) 0:04

Third Quarter

Prt — Omaru Carter 30 fumble return (conversion failed) 9:30

Prt — Zach Delotell 26 fumble return (conversion no good) 8:37

Prt — Chris Johnson 7 run (conversion failed) 6:49

SP — John Kuhn 36 run (conversion good) 5:10

SP — Zack Layman 37 run (kick blocked) 0:00

Fourth Quarter

Prt — Darray Richardson 2 run (Zach Delotell kick) 6:20

SP — Zack Layman 73 run (kick failed) 5:40

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —South Point: Zack Layman 8-165, John Kuhn 5-45, Hunter Starr 2-23, Owen Chaffin 6-22, Brandin Jackson 5-16, Matt Keeney 9-15, Isaiah Adams 2-minus 2, Brandon Layne 1-minus 7; Portsmouth: Darray Richardson 13-53 TD, Cole Lowery 9-35, Austin Hollins 6-20 2-TD, Austin Mullins 1-8, Omaru Carter 2-3, Chris Johnson 1-7 TD.

PASSING — South Point: Joel Morrison 1-2-0 38; Portsmouth: Cole Lowery 7-11-0 203 3-TD.

RECEIVING — South Point: Isaiah Adams 1-38; Portsmouth: Darray Richardson 1-69, Luke Purdy 2-61 TD, Austin Hollins 2-44 TD, Ryan Williams 2-29.