[9/20/04]It was hard to tell what to make of Porters Chapel’s victory over Tensas on Friday night.

On the one hand, PCA notched its first win against a team with a winning record this season and looked convincing for three quarters while doing it. The Eagles got a 100-yard rushing night from Chris Mixon and built a 27-0 lead late in the third quarter.

Upon closer examination, however, the Eagles also showed a few flaws. They put together only one sustained drive on offense, allowed Tensas to drive inside their 30-yard line six times and held off a furious comeback bid by the Chiefs to score a 27-20 win. It was PCA’s fourth consecutive victory.

“We felt like we dominated the football game,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “We’re proud of the effort that we had. They scored a little bit down at the end there, but we held them out of the end zone when it counted and got the job done.”

PCA (4-1) built its big lead with a strong defensive effort in the first half.

Tensas quarterback Tyler White fumbled on the Chiefs’ third play, and PCA’s Kenny Simms recovered at the Tensas 33-yard line. Michael Busby hit Hayden Hales with a touchdown pass on the next play from scrimmage to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

Two plays later, White floated a pass deep down the left side. Cole Smith won the jump ball from Tensas’ Ryan Borsch and returned the interception 48 yards for the touchdown. It was Smith’s seventh interception this season, and the third he has returned for a touchdown.

“We worked on that play all week,” Smith said. “I knew it was coming, and it came right to me.”

Tensas drove to the PCA 27 on its next possession before stalling, and didn’t go anywhere the next time it got the ball. Zach Jones lined up to punt at his own 20, but the snap was low and the Eagles got a good rush on him. Jones rolled to his right and fought off a would-be tackler as he kicked, but the ball traveled just 10 yards.

Mixon returned it to the Tensas 19, and the Eagles got another 10 yards when Tensas coach Chris Jacobs was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He thought his punter had been roughed, and he ran onto the field to protest the non-call.

Three plays later, Mixon scored from 8 yards out to put PCA ahead 21-0 and cap a one-sided first half at least on the scoreboard.

Despite the score, the offensive stats for both teams were nearly even.

PCA had 108 total yards to 101 for Tensas, and the Chiefs had an advantage in first downs and time of possession. The only real difference was the two turnovers and the botched punt that led to PCA’s easy points.

“They were big, and they were blowing through our holes. We ended up getting a couple of good breaks and they had a couple of mistakes that we took advantage of,” said Mixon, who had 112 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries. “We did what we had to do to win the game.”

Mixon added an 85-yard touchdown run with 3:10 to play in the third quarter to make it 27-0 before Tensas began its comeback.

The Chiefs who were stopped on a fourth-and-goal from the PCA 6 on the opening drive of the second half scored on their last three possessions.

Cody Hill put Tensas on the board with a 5-yard TD with 1:07 to play in the third quarter, and Tyler White hit Ryan Borsch for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 7:41 remaining in the fourth. Will Ratliff’s 8-yard TD run with 2:40 to go in the game cut it to 27-20 and gave Tensas a fighting chance.

“It was the same thing like last week. The first quarter we did that and the second quarter we came out looking like we did in the first quarter,” Borsch said, referring to Tensas’ 21-15 win over Briarfield the week before. In that game, the Chiefs scored 21 points in the first half but were shut out in the second half. “But you’ve got to get it all together and put it in one game.”

With three timeouts and their defense dominating, Tensas kicked the ball deep on the ensuing kickoff. It never got it back.

Gerald Mims picked up a pair of first downs for the Eagles, doubling their total for the rest of the half and allowing them to run out the clock.

“This is a win that we’re extremely proud of. We know and understand that they have a good team,” Wright said of Tensas, which was averaging 40 points per game entering Friday night. “Any time you come to Louisiana and win, you’re doing a good job, and I’m very proud of my boys for coming over here and beating them tonight.”