What was supposed to be an early-season matchup between two of the top teams in Eastern Class A turned into an easy Cheverus victory.

The Stags continued their mastery over Portland, rolling to a 41-3 victory Saturday at Boulos Stadium. Cheverus beat Portland twice last season, including 22-19 in the playoffs, and has seven straight wins over their crosstown rivals.

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“Once we got rolling, we got the jump on them,” Cheverus Coach John Wolfgram said. “It was a good test, and the score was no indication of the strength of the teams. We took advantage of field position.”

Cheverus made two impressive defensive stands early to grab momentum. The Bulldogs moved inside the Stags’ 20-yard line twice during the first eight minutes of the game but managed just a 35-yard field goal by John Williams.

“The defense made some nice plays early when we shut them down, and I think that was important,” Wolfgram said.

“Defense is always our backbone,” Cheverus tailback/linebacker Joe Fitzpatrick said. “We had a lot of great stops. We had a lot of sudden changes. Our defense just got on the field and took care of business.”

The Cheverus defense limited Portland to nine first downs and 139 yards of total offense.

“Last year, we knew what we could do,” Portland Coach Jim Hartman said. “It’s a tough way to come up against the team of this caliber and have to figure out what the (heck) we’re doing. We’ve got 22 seniors, so hopefully we’ll learn from this and move on. I think we’re going to be a much better team by the end of the season.”

The Stags didn’t get things going offensively until after Williams’ field goal. On the ensuing possession, Fitzpatrick went 25 yards up the middle for a touchdown to cap a seven-play, 69-yard drive with 21 seconds left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Cheverus took over on the Portland 35 and Liam LaFountain scored from 17-yards out.

With 20 seconds left in the first half, LaFountain made it 21-3 when he scored on a 15-yard run four plays after defensive tackle Dan O’Brion recovered a fumble on the Portland 29.

Eight minutes into the third quarter, Justin Johnson ran 59 yards for a touchdown three plays after Cheverus took over on down on its own 27-yard line.

Early in the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick, who rushed a game-high 147 yards on 18 carries, made it 34-3 when he ran 5 yards for a touchdown.

Zordan Holman, a 6-foot, 6-inch, 225-pound defensive end, scored the final touchdown of the game when he pounced on a fumble by Portland quarterback Jordan Talbot in the end zone.

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