The Windham Eagles will hit the road for the first time this season to challenge the Portland Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Windham is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Maine's top teams: Noble, who was ranked 12th in their home state at the time (Windham was ranked 14th). The matchup between Windham and Noble wasn't particularly close, with Windham falling 28-14.
Meanwhile, Portland had to kick off their season on the road on Friday, but they showed no ill effects. They put the hurt on Oxford Hills/Buckfield with a sharp 40-20 win. Given the Bulldogs' advantage in MaxPreps' Maine football rankings (they are ranked third, while the are ranked 49th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Portland can attribute much of their success to Louis Thurston, who rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown on only nine carries, and Cordell Jones, who gained 229 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance gave him a new career- in total yards. Brody Viola was in the mix as well, providing Portland with two touchdowns.
Portland's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB three times. Lisandro Rodrigues was particularly dangerous to the passing game, picking up two sackshimself. He didn't just play on offense: he also picked up two sacks and made six total tackles (3.0 for loss).
Windham took a serious blow against Portland when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 35-7. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Portland's Aidan Mcgowan, who rushed for 159 yards and four touchdowns. Now that Windham knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
