Familiar faces square off in Portageville vs. Hayti FB match-up

Then-Hayti football coach Lucas Rayfield speaks to his team during a break in its game against Kennett during the 2022 season at Hayti High School. Rayfield now coaches at Portageville High School and his team will face the Indians tonight at 7 p.m. at Portageville.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

No football coach in the Bootheel knows more of what to expect from its opponent tonight than Portageville High School’s Lucas Rayfield does of Hayti High School.

Rayfield spent the last five seasons with the Indian program, the last two as head coach, and the two teams will meet at Portageville at 7 p.m.

During his time as the defensive coordinator for Hayti, Rayfield worked under legendary Indian coach Dominique Robinson, who replaced Rayfield this fall after Rayfield replaced Robinson two years ago.

“Portageville is a solid football team,” Robinson said. “They’ll play hard. They are well-coached and they’ll play hard.”

That was evident last week, as the Class 2 No. 11-ranked Bulldogs (1-0) throttled always-strong Kennett 28-6.

“Portageville has a good quarterback,” Robinson continued, “and a great running back, and a good (offensive) line.

“It’s going to be a good game for us to test ourselves.”

Portageville got 106 rushing yards and a score out of junior Antonio Hickenbottom against Kennett while defensively, senior Cross Howard tallied 14 tackles, one quarterback sack, one fumble recovery, and even picked off a pass.

Portageville sophomore defender Evan Winsor also nabbed an interception and scored a defensive touchdown.

For Rayfield, the concerns are just as many as Robinson has.

The Indians unleashed a balanced offense that will test Rayfield’s defensive acumen.

Hayti sophomore quarterback J.C. Ford threw for 239 yards in completing 10 of 16 passes, one of which went to the end zone.

“J.C. played a good game, for the most part,” Robinson said. “He made minimal mistakes. For him being just a sophomore, he played well at times.”

Ford hooked up with senior wide receiver Tim Hamilton five times for 99 yards and a score while hitting junior pass-catcher Jeremy Alexander twice for 56 yards and a touchdown.

“They did a great job of running routes and being productive in the passing game,” Robinson said of his receivers.

As good as all those athletes were, sophomore runner Isaiah Love was the highlight of the Hayti offense against Thayer’s tough defense.

Love ran for 219 yards on 10 carries and also scored once.

“I was running on a lot of pitches, tosses, and options,” Love said. “I was just finding holes and getting upfield.”

The Indians are in search of their first victory after falling to Thayer in Hayti 45-28. The 28 points were only the second time in the last 10 games that Hayti totaled that many points.