Windham put up three TDs – by Nate Watson, Blake Houser and Desmond Leslie – against visiting Portland on Friday night, Sept. 16, but those 21 points simply weren’t enough. The Bulldogs’ offense gritted out 42 of their own against the Eagles to emerge victorious from the rivalry matchup.

“Definitely a grind-’em-out game. Real good hitting, just getting after each other,” said Windham head coach Matt Perkins.

The first half in particular unfolded as a series of crawling drives comprised largely of short runs. Portland punted on their opening possession and the Eagles punted on their follow-up possession. Finally, one side – the Bulldogs – lit up the scoreboard: From first and goal at the Eagles’ three, Nick Archambault chugged into the end zone and Quinn Clarke added the PAT for 7-0.

As time expired on the first quarter, Portland struck again. QB Issiah Bachelder ran home a short keeper and Clarke split the uprights once more for 14-0.

Not until late in the second did the Eagles find their voice. After forcing a Portland punt, Windham took over at their own 30. From there, Kyle Houser added runs of 10 and 46, though a couple of penalties figured in the mix to settle the Eagles at first and 10 at the Bulldogs’ 44.

Leslie suffered a pair of sacks as he inched his squad deeper into Portland territory. But he also contributed a couple short runs and a trio of passes: 12 yards to Griffith Hebert, six to Watson and 24 to Nazari Henderson, a hookup that stuck at first and 10 on the Bulldogs’ 14 after a pass interference call on Portlander Vince Pasquali. Finally, from second and seven at the 11, Watson squeezed up the middle and cut the Eagles’ deficit in half.

The penalties, and a handful of other sloppy errors, justifiably rankled Perkins, who prodded his boys into tightening up their play for the downhill quarters. “The biggest adjustment we made was just trying to clean up some of the mistakes,” he said. “We had a lot of mental mistakes. We had two personal fouls that cost us big. That’s the stuff that – we’re a young team, we’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to grow up. There’s no way around it.”

Portland scooted ahead to 21-7 on a Bachelder keeper in the late third, and 28-7 on a Dylan Bolduc run midway through the fourth. Then Blake Houser stole seven back, returning the Bulldogs’ kickoff 85 yards – and stiff-arming defenders off all the way – to keep his boys’ hopes alive at 28-14.

The Eagles caught another beautiful break – or made one for themselves – when Portland either muffed a punt deep in their own territory or a Windham defender tipped it. Either way, it found the capable hands of Eagle Cam Hoffses, who carried it to the Bulldogs’ one-yard-line. From there, Leslie shuttled it home. 28-21 with 3:19 to play.

“We started believing a little bit that we could battle,” said Perkins. “But that’s part of a young team; you’ve got to get over the humps and get back. Be able to come back the next day and keep working.”

Unfortunately, the Windham rally would screech to a halt. Portland assembled an impressive follow-up drive and jumped to 35-21, then scored again when a Leslie Pass bounced out of Blake Houser’s hands only to be grabbed by Bulldog Ethan Hoyt, who ran the ball nearly 50 yards for 42-21, which is how the evening concluded.

Windham dropped to 2-1 on the result. The Eagles are scheduled to travel to undefeated Thornton on Saturday the 24th for an afternoon showdown

Windham’s Treva Valliere lays a hit on Portland ball-carrier Dylan Bolduc.

Windham QB Desmond Leslie plants his feet to throw, even as a Portland defender breaks free of a block and charges on.

Eagle wide receiver Griffeth Hebert takes flight to reel in a pass from QB Desmond Leslie. Not content to let gravity do its job, a Portland defender intends to haul Hebert back to Earth.

Windhamite Kyle Houser works through a run, throwing up a stiff-arm against a would-be Bulldogs tackler.