Raiders roll Lansing Catholic 54-6

The Portland High School football team hosted Lansing Catholic on Friday for a CAAC White match-up.  The Raiders picked up a decisive 54-6 win.

From the offensive side of the ball, senior running backs Kayden Dickerson and Nolan Zbytowski each played a significant part of the Raider win.  Dickerson ran for 140 yards with two touchdowns, and a long run of the night of 79 yards.  Zbytowski had two rushing touchdowns, 79 yards total, with a 31 yard long run for the night. 

The Raiders also had rushing touchdowns from senior running back Brad Meyers, senior running back Trevor Smith, junior running back Carson Spenski, and junior running back Alex Atwell.  Junior running back Tanner Darunday tallied 84 yards on the night. 

Senior quarterback Ethan Cassel threw for 54 yards and had one rushing touchdown.  Senior receiver Brady Rowe had 29 receiving yards and senior Wyatt Noot had 15 receiving yards.

On the defensive side, Portland picked up interceptions from Spenski, Rowe, and junior Deacon Townsend.  Junior linebacker Liam Wolfe had a team leading six tackles.  Junior defensive lineman Tristan Pohl had five tackles.  Zbytowski, senior Zach Stanton, and senior Gavin Werner each had four tackles.  Senior Trevor Smith had one tackle and one fumble recovery. 

After the game, Portland head coach John Novara said, “We executed pretty well in every phase of the game. We had a little problem with extra points and we need to work hard on that next week. I thought the kids played very fast and were physical. Our offensive line blocked great, and our defense played great again tonight. Just a whole team effort tonight. We got a lot guys in the endzone. Couple things to clean up but we are starting to play a bit cleaner and I am happy about that.”

Through six weeks of the 2025 season, the Raider defense has only allowed 25 total points, and has held each opponent to 12 points or less.

With the win the Raiders improve to 6-0 overall, 5-0 in the CAAC White.  Up next, they travel to Eaton Rapids to face the Greyhounds who are 1-5 overall, 1-4 in the CAAC White.  Last week Eaton Raids fell to Olivet 56-21.

Editors note: When this piece was originally posted on 10/8/25, coach John Novara's quote was accidentally not included. The quote was added to the piece on 10/9/25.