Our Communities. Our Teams. Our Future.
We’re proud to make high school sports coverage free for everyone—because these moments matter. At Maine State Credit Union, we’re here for the people and places that make Maine strong. Let’s Go! Learn more at mainestatecu.org. 

View 17 photos

BANGOR — The Portland High football team has a saying: “Lock the gates.” On Friday night, it poured out from the Bulldogs’ sideline on one drive after another.

“We were calling it all game,” junior running back Alex Martin said. “It means hunker down, do your job, and go be somebody.”

With the game and their season on the line, the Bulldogs locked the gates on another trip to the state final. Cordell Jones ran for touchdowns on Portland’s final three drives, and the defending state champions outlasted Bangor, 30-22, in the Class A North final at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“You couldn’t ask for a better win,” Jones said. “The guys pulled together at the end, brought the energy and became a team.”

Portland, the No. 1 seed in the North, will play Saturday’s winner of the South final between Thornton Academy and Bonny Eagle, in next week’s state title game at Fitzpatrick.

What was looking like a rock fight early on — Portland led 3-0 with under two minutes to go in the first half — turned into a track meet in the second half, and the Bulldogs had to rally from deficits of 14-10 and 22-16.

Jones took over in the fourth quarter. He rushed for a go-ahead touchdown with 6:25 to play, then followed an interception on defense (his second of the game) with another score before Portland’s pass rush forced third-seeded Bangor into a turnover on downs that all but ended the game and sealed the Bulldogs’ fourth straight trip to a state final.

“(That was an) absolute slugfest,” Portland coach Nick Cliche said. “I’m just really proud of our kids, the resolve and the resiliency, especially late when we went down and they scored a couple of times, for us to punch back.”

Bangor fell to Portland 42-26 in September, but the Rams had the defending champions in trouble on their home turf.

“That was a great job on all our kids’ part. Portland did a great job, too,” coach Dave Morris said. “It was a great, hard-fought battle. We just ran out of time.”

Bangor took its first lead at 14-10 with 3:11 left in the third quarter on a 45-yard pass from Kyle Johnson to Gavin Glanville-True, only for Jones (21 carries, 128 yards) to break a 43-yard touchdown run on the next possession.

Undeterred, the Rams went ahead again on their next series, with Johnson (25 carries, 79 yards) hitting Will Houghton for 55 yards before running in from a yard out for a 22-16 lead with 11:13 to go.

Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 31 yards, then capped a 53-yard drive with an 8-yard run that put Portland back in front, 23-22. He then picked off a Johnson pass and eventually ran in from 22 yards to make it 30-22 with 2:49 left.

“I feel like they need me a lot. They count on me, they lean on me, I’m the leader,” Jones said. “I’ve really built a really good relationship with all of our guys, especially our O-line, for sure. They really do their job.”

Jones ran for only 12 yards on 10 carries in the first half, but gained 116 yards on 11 carries in the second half.

“If people don’t think that Cordell Jones is the best football player in the state of Maine, they should watch him play,” Cliche said.

Portland’s defense clinched it. Dominic Huntington sacked Johnson twice, setting up fourth-and-19, and Ben Trenoweth had Johnson wrapped up before he heaved a desperation pass that fell incomplete.

“Our defensive line willed us to victory there. They just pinned their ears back and played with a maniacal sense of urgency,” Cliche said. “They came together and they closed it for us.”

The early star on offense for Portland was Martin (16 carries, 114 yards), who had a 34-yard run that set up Justin Bouchard’s 23-yard field goal with 8:04 to go in the first half, and then a 45-yard run before hauling in a 34-yard scoring pass from Jones with 1:17 to go in the half.

“We knew it was going to be a hard fight,” Martin said. “We just had to stay calm, stay confident, and do our job.”