PORTLAND – After being hemmed in its own end for almost all of the first half Saturday night, the Edward Little football team finally escaped at halftime.

Down only 7-0, the Red Eddies had the chance to make up for the struggles of the first half. But while EL finally got some movement on offense in the second half, so did Portland.

The Bulldogs extended their lead in the third quarter and EL failed to keep pace. Portland scored once in the third and three times in the fourth for a 33-0 win at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“They’re a good football team,” EL coach Dave Sterling said. “We played well with them in the first half. We made some mistakes in the second half. We gave them some very good opportunities. Now we have to move forward.”

EL (1-1) had totaled negative-8 yards in the first quarter and 17 by halftime. Though the Red Eddies produced a little more offense, Portland (2-0) got its running game going in the second half. After outgaining EL 101-17 in the first half, the Bulldogs gained 184 to EL’s 84 in the second half.

“It was a bad week,” Portland coach Jim Hartman said. “We didn’t prepare well. That’s my fault. It was a bad week of coaching. They were doing some things up front that we didn’t recognize. They were flying to the outside. Then we just ran everything up the middle.”

The Bulldogs dominated the ground game in the second half. George Chaison-Lapine scored two touchdowns and rushed for 118 yards on 19 carries. Joe Esposito also scored twice and totaled 109 yards on 18 carries.

“Once we figured out what they were doing up front, it was boom, boom, boom up the middle,” Hartman said.

EL got 63 yards rushing from Caden Begos on 19 carries while the Red Eddies passing game finished with seven completions for just 39 yards.

“We made some adjustments at halftime, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Sterling said. “We’ve got some people that need to step up for us in the coming week. We saw some adversity. Some guys got tired on the field. We’re working forward to next week against Oxford Hills.”

Up 7-0 going into the second half, Portland added to its lead with its second drive in the third. The Bulldogs marched it 48 yards for the 14-0 lead. Chaison-Lapine carried it 40 yards on the drive’s final three plays. He took it in from the 12 for the score with 5:17 left in the quarter.

The Bulldogs extended the lead on its next possession. EL went for it on fourth-and-one from its own 26, but quarterback Matt Verrill was stuffed on the keeper. Portland took over on downs and scored five plays later. Chaison-Lapine rushed it in from the 10 with 11:28 left in the game.

Portland scored twice more in the fourth. Jake Knop picked off a pass and returned it 85 yards for the score with 10:51 left. Then Esposito rushed it in from the 2 with 3:55 remaining.

“We felt pretty good at halftime,” Sterling said. “We’ve got some very good things to move forward with from that first half. We’ll have to get to work this week.”

EL had an awful start and spent much of the first half trying to get untracked. The Red Eddies set up on the 26 to start the game. The first pass completion went for minus-10 yards. EL then lost six yards on each of the next two plays. EL was forced to punt from the 4.

Portland couldn’t take advantage on its first possession, which began at the 39. EL, however, struggled to move the ball out of its own end. EL got as far as the Portland 50 but that was on its last possession of the first half.

“They did very well keeping us pinned in deep with their punts,” Sterling said. “We’ve got some work to do. We’ve got a big game with Oxford Hills, and we’ve got to move forward. We had some key injuries in the game and we’ve got some people that need to step up.”

EL earned its initial first down on its second possession but was forced to punt from its own 25. Portland still couldn’t cash in on good field position, but EL made it easier with a fumble. The Red Eddies were hemmed in on the 5 and fumbled it away on the first carry of the possession. Issiah Bachelder made the recovery, giving Portland the ball at the 12. Esposito took it from there. He ran it in from the 5 with 3:56 left in the first quarter for the 7-0 lead.

Portland had chances to add to its lead. The Bulldogs missed a long field goal early in the second and then had the ball on the 13 but was stopped on fourth-down-and-six. A blocked punt by Nick Archambault gave Portland another chance with the ball at the 12, but penalties pushed the Bulldogs back. Portland had nine penalties for 50 yards in the first half.

“We stopped the penalties (in the second half),” Hartman said.

Portland outgained EL 101-17 in yardage in the first half but had just the 7-0 lead to show for it.

“The kids played their butts off defensively,” Hartman said. “It was a very good defensive game plan.”

kmills@sunjournal.com