Instant Classic: Late Thomas run seals win for undefeated Portsmouth over Dover

PORTSMOUTH - Teammates of Portsmouth/Oyster High School football quarterback Aidan Thomas came up to the signal-caller and told him all the ClipperCats needed was one first down.

Dover, on a touchdown pass from quarterback Ryder Aubin to Bryce Carberry, had just scored and converted a two-point conversion to cut Portsmouth's lead to 24-22 with 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.

With only one timeout remaining for the Green Wave, one first down would all but ice the game for Portsmouth.

Portsmouth running back Brooks Connors took the first two handoffs and gained three yards, and on third-and-7, Thomas dropped back in the pocket, burst through the middle, planted his foot in the ground to complete a cut past a defender and he was suddenly down the right sideline for a 38-yard gain, securing Portsmouth's 24-22 win at Tom Daubney Field.

"(The coaches) told me if there's nothing there, then run," Thomas said. "I saw an open gap and I took it ... I was thinking stay inbounds and protect the ball. We didn't want any late turnovers to give them any sort of chance."

Portsmouth improved to 3-0, while Dover is now 1-1.

After Thomas' scramble, Connors ran for five yards, Cole McLaughlin picked up six, and then Thomas took a knee at the Dover 4.

"That (run by Thomas) was great," Portsmouth wideout Angus Moss said. "I was kind of watching. I was spectating a little bit, and I saw (Thomas) get loose, so I turned around and started running with him to find a block, and (Thomas) just took care of business."

"This was one of the biggest games of the year so far," Portsmouth's Colton Brisard said. "We knew this was going to be a battle and we knew it was going to come down to the end."

Aubin, despite the loss, said the game was a blast.

"Obviously, we didn't come out on top like we wanted to, but there's nothing like playing a full 48 minutes of football that is within a score the entire time," Aubin said. "It's fun football, for sure. You don't want to get into a game where you're getting blown out or blowing out the other team, it's not the same. This was a good game for sure."

Dover will host Spaulding next Friday at 7 p.m., while Portsmouth will visit Memorial (1-2).

Here are five highlights from Portsmouth's win.

Angus Moss' 32-yard reception sets up two-score lead

Coming off a three-touchdown performance in last week's win over Winnacunnet, Moss didn't find the end zone on Friday, but he made one of the biggest plays.

On a drive that started in the third quarter and bled into the fourth, Portsmouth was facing a third-and-9. Thomas threw a screen pass to Moss on the right side of the field, Moss cut back to the middle and was off to the races for a 32-yard gain before being tackled at the Dover 4.

Thomas scored on a 4-yard run on the next play, pushing the Portsmouth lead to 24-14 with 11:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"That (play) was just drawn up perfectly," Moss said of his catch. "Everyone did their job, that's assignment football right there and we just executed."

"We've been setting it up all week," Thomas said. "We just put in the playbook this week. We'd fake a screen to the left, and (Moss) would be coming back around, and as you see, it worked."

Portsmouth capitalizes on early Dover turnover

Dover's Syncere Bailey took the opening kickoff to midfield and instantly gave the offense great field position to work with. But after gaining just two yards on the first two plays, and an Aubin incomplete pass on third down intended for Samuel Grube, Dover brought on the punt team.

Before the punt, the Green Wave committed a false start, so a fourth-and-8 turned into a fourth-and-13 at their own 47. The snap on the punt was high and sailed over Tucker Johnson's head, which he recovered and was tackled by Brisard at the 22.

McLaughlin picked up 14 yards on a third-and-6 to the Dover 4; two plays later, Thomas connected with McLaughlin for an 8-yard touchdown.

"I think that's huge in a game like that," Portsmouth head coach Brian Pafford said of creating points off a turnover early in the game.

Thomas faked a handoff, rolled to his left where he found McLaughlin wide open just in front of the goal line, and the versatile running back hit paydirt for the opening score. McLaughlin had four touches for 19 yards (11 rushing yards) and a touchdown on the possession.

"(The score) was good, it knocked the nerves right out," Thomas said. "We were kind of nervous coming in. We were right there with them, we weren't scared of them. We hit them in the mouth on the first possession and the rest was history."

Dover responds with 13-play drive

For the next six minutes, roughly, Dover put together a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Bailey. The two-point attempt was unsuccessful as Portsmouth's Dom Buono picked off Aubin's pass in the end zone.

After Dover freshman Amari Lewis, who would have some huge plays later in the drive, lost a yard on 1st-and-10, and an Aubin incompletion, Aubin found Bailey for 19 yards and a new set of downs at their own 38. Two plays later, Aubin scrambled for 15 yards and a first down at the Portsmouth 45.

Two plays later, on third-and-4, the Green Wave fed Lewis on three of the next four plays. It started with a 9-yard catch to pick up a first down. Then he caught a screen pass for six yards, Bailey ran for 13 yards and a first down, Lewis picked up another 9-yard reception, and Bailey scored from 2 yards out on the next play.

"That was huge to get the swing back," Dover head coach Eric Cumba said. "The high snap with the field position is a defensive nightmare, and for us to come out and respond, even though we were down one after that drive, just to kind of give us a little more confidence and know that this is going to be a game that takes all four quarters."

Aubin completed 4-of-5 passes for 37 yards on the drive. He also gained 21 yards on the ground, while Lewis racked up 23 total yards. Along with his 19-yard reception, Bailey carried the ball four times for 17 yards on the drive.

"All cylinders were moving there, it was nice to see," Aubin said. "I thought that was one of our best drives of the night, for sure. That was huge for us and something we can take and move forward into next week and use that."

Back-and-forth first half ends with Portsmouth lead

With 3:05 left in the half, Aubin threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Bailey on a third-and-17 for a touchdown. Aubin then found Carberry for the successful two-point conversion, giving Dover a 14-7 lead.

The Portsmouth offense needed just three plays to tie the game, McLaughlin carried the ball twice for 17 yards to Dover's 45, and then Connors was down the left sideline, scoring on a 45-yard touchdown run. The drive took 51 seconds off the clock.

Looking to put together a quick scoring drive before the half, Aubin was intercepted by Portsmouth's Tucker Huskey on third-and-19. Huskey returned the ball to the Dover 9.

The ClipperCats didn't capitalize with a touchdown, but Daniel Soler-Sala drilled a 22-yard field goal for a 17-14 halftime lead.

Both defenses get stingy in third quarter

Of the 46 total points scored in the game, no points were scored in the third quarter. To start the third, Portsmouth ran five plays, picked up 23 yards before punting.

Then, Dover ran just four plays on their first drive of the half; on fourth-and-2 from their own 46, the snap was botched and recovered by Portsmouth's Fletcher Miles.

"Much like the beginning of the game, we have to control the line of scrimmage with the run game," Pafford said. "And if we can do that, we'd be in good shape, and we did it. In the first half, our (defensive) ends didn't do a great job of keeping Ryder in the pocket as much, they took better angles in the second half and it was harder for him to hit the corner."

It was Portsmouth's third forced turnover of the game, but the first time the ClipperCats wouldn't turn it into points. On a fourth-and-6 from Dover's 21, Thomas scrambled, but was tackled a yard short of the first down marker, giving the ball back to Dover.

"I just told the team to take it one play at a time," Cumba said of the third quarter. "We made some slight adjustments to kind of get guys into better spots more consistently. We came out and got a stop to start the half which was huge."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth's Thomas ices game with 38-yard scramble in 24-22 win