The Forrest Rockets backed up a season opening win with a big 37-22 triumph over Portland Friday night at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill.

Both teams combined for 43 first half points before the Rockets’ defense pitched a second half shutout.

“It was an awesome win for us, it was a great team win,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “We came out after the second half down a little bit, but the fourth quarter we got two big scores and shut them out and that was huge.”

For the second week in a row, Forrest dominated on the ground, rushing for 304 yards with senior Nick McClendon leading the way with 20 rushes for 196 yards and four touchdowns.

“Our line up front with (Tate) Garvin, (Noah) Hill, (Cody) Patin, (Braden) Bowyer and Sammy (Williams) they did a great job of blocking all night long and we got some big plays on them,” Stephenson said.

McClendon had touchdowns runs of 45, 31, 27, and six yards in the contest.

Cole Villazon rushed the ball 14 times for 56 yards and a touchdown and had two catches out of the backfield for 50 yards.

“It was huge for us, a 4A team versus a 2A team, it was the biggest win we had in a long time,” Villazon said. “It was grit and grind for us, that’s what we worked for in the summer and that’s what we have been working for ever since we started and I’m glad it paid off.”

Quarterback Max Kirby had a huge night for the Rockets, completing five out of nine passes for 135 yards and also ran for a 23-yard second quarter score.

“We knew they were going to stack the box after running for 500 yards the last game,” Kirby said. “All through practice we were trying to keep them outside so we could open the run lanes for Nick, Sweeney, Cole and all the rest of the running backs and we did a good job of that early in the game.”

Forrest only had one turnover in the game and was penalized just twice.

“We played hard, we played smart, and we played with class, pride and tradition,” Stephenson said.

The Rockets won the opening coin toss and elected to receive, starting at their own 45-yard line after a nice kickoff return by McClendon.

After a five-yard run by Villazon and a Kirby to Villazon one-yard toss, McClendon busted a 5-yard run on third down and the Rockets were in business.

Forrest continued to drive the ball to the Portland 15-yard line where Villazon picked up a loose ball and beat the defense to the corner, running the home sideline for a touchdown.

Zoe Long booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter.

The Rockets’ defense stopped Portland’s first drive, but Forrest punted the ball back to the Panthers after just three plays.

A 14-yard pass by Caleb Mandrell to Darius Bell was followed by another loose ball snatch and score by Caden Box from 39-yards out and the successful extra point by Jovie Lugo knotted the contest at 7-7 with just over a minute to go in the first quarter.

Both teams had to punt on their next possession and the Rockets began their fourth possession of the contest at their own 20-yard line with 9:05 remaining in the second quarter.

Kirby connected on a 33-yard jump ball bomb to Spencer McCown on first down and three snaps later, Kirby ran for a 23-yard touchdown.

“We were ready for whatever coach Stephenson called, we have been working all week for this and we knew they would be a tough team,” McCown said. “We just prepared all week and we just believed in coach and what he had to call.”

The PAT was blocked and the Rockets led 13-7 with 7:06 left in the first half.

After another defensive stop, Forrest took over at their own 41-yard line and marched 59-yards in just five plays, capped off by a McClendon 27-yard TD jaunt.

The 2-point conversion pass was incomplete and Forrest led 19-7 with 3:30 remaining in the first half.

A kickoff out bounds gave the Panthers the ball at their own 49-yard line and on the next snap, Dylan Gulley took off for a 51-yard touchdown run and Lugo made the PAT to cut the Forrest lead to 19-14 with still 3:19 left in the first half.

Forrest’s next drive was cut short on a fumble recovery by Ramond Betancur, but the Panthers gave it right back to the Rockets two plays later when McClendon recovered a loose ball at the Portland 30-yard line.

After an incomplete pass, Kirby handed the ball off to McClendon on a draw play that worked to perfection as McClendon found a big hole and went untouched for a touchdown.

The two-point run was stopped and Forrest led 25-14 with under a minute to play in the first half.

Portland answered with a quick 53-yard drive, capped off by a Kaleb Allen 1-yard touchdown run, followed by a Darius Bell 2-point catch from Mandrell to make it a 25-22 ballgame at the half.

Both defenses played solid in the third quarter as they forced a pair of punts each and Portland also punted on its third possession with 1:03 left in the stanza.

The Rockets took over on the Portland 33-yard line and put together a key offensive drive as they marched all the way down the field, burning the clock in the process and made it a two-possession game when McClendon found the end zone from six yards out to give Chapel Hill a 31-22 lead with 7:08 remaining in the contest.

Portland tried to answer, but the Forrest defense went in to a bend but don’t break mode and stopped the Panthers on a fourth down incompletion at the Rockets’ forty with 4:38 left in the game.

“We were relentless on defense, this is probably the best secondary we have ever had here and they were on the ball on night,” Stephenson said.

Two and a half minutes later, McClendon scampered 45 yards for the backbreaking touchdown with just over two minutes to go in the contest.

Portland tried to get a late score, but it was put to rest when Joel Burton came up with a fourth down sack to end the game and keep the Rockets undefeated at 2-0.

Forrest has a huge game this week as the open up Region 5-AA play when they travel to longtime rival Eagleville with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.

“This is good, but now we start region play and have to go to Eagleville,” Kirby said. “So now we are 0-0 and have to go to Eagleville and get that win.”

The Eagles (2-0) beat Cornersville 27-15 last week and have beaten Forrest by one point the last two years.

“It’s a great feeling being 2-0, we have to celebrate tonight, but when it hits Monday we have to get ready for Eagleville because they are a tough team,” McCown said.

Portland 7 15 0 0-22

Forrest 7 18 0 12-37

Scoring

First quarter

Forrest-Cole Villazon 15-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 6:08.

Portland-Caden Box 39-yard run, Jovie Lugo PAT, 1:33.

Second quarter

Forrest-Max Kirby 23-yard run, PAT blocked, 7:06.

Forrest-Nick McClendon 27-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 3:30.

Portland-Dylan Gulley 51-yard run, Jovie Lugo PAT, 3:19

Forrest-Nick McClendon 31-yard run, 2-pt run NG, 0.58.

Portland-Kaleb Allen 1-yard run, Darius Bell 2-pt. pass from Caleb Mandrell, 0.05.

Fourth quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 6-yard run, PAT blocked, 7:08.

Forrest-Nick McClendon 45-yard run, PAT NG, 2:08.

Total Offense: Portland 280, Forrest 439.

Rushing: Portland 188, Forrest 304.

Passing: Portland 92, Forrest 135.

First downs: Portland 15, Forrest 20.

Penalties: Portland 2-20, Forrest 4-40.

Turnovers: Portland 1, Forrest 1.

Forrest Offense

Rushing (49-304): Nick McClendon 20-196-4TD, Cole Villazon 14-56-TD, Max Kirby 4-29-TD, Blaize Sweeney 7-13, Aiden Freeman 4-10.

Passing (5-9-135): Max Kirby 5-9-135-TD.

Receiving: Cole Villazon 2-50, Spencer McCown 2-49, Blaize Sweeney 1-36.

Kicking

PAT: Zoe Long 2-4.

Defense

Tackles: Nick McClendon 6 (FUM REC), Blaize Sweeney 5, Noah Hill 4, Cole Villazon 3, Joel Burton 2 (SACK), Spencer McCown 2, Max Kirby 2, Tate Garvin 1, Sammy Williams 1.