WINDHAM – After running just nine offensive plays while being outplayed in the first half, no one panicked in Windham High’s locker room at halftime.

Instead, said Todd Allen, a junior making his first start at quarterback, “We got some motivation from our coaches and everyone was getting pumped up.”

Whatever Coach Matt Perkins said to his players, it worked.

Windham rallied in the second half to win its second straight game after an 0-3 start, beating Portland 16-7 on Friday night.

“We’re trying to get on a streak now and make the playoffs,” said Allen.

Both teams are now 2-3 and in the wild Western Class A conference, that puts both teams smack in the middle of the playoff race. So this was an important game for both.

“From week to week, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Portland Coach Mike Bailey.

Actually, sometimes it’s from half to half.

Portland controlled the first half Friday night, its special teams pinning the Eagles deep and its offense controlling the clock on the ground. But the Bulldogs led only 7-6 because Windham’s Jordin Allen returned an interception 62 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, and that had Bailey worried.

Portland ran 31 offensive plays in the first half but got only a 1-yard touchdown plunge by sophomore quarterback Jayvon Pitts-Young with 11.4 seconds left, followed by a PAT kick by Kyle Reichert that gave the Bulldogs the lead.

“That’s the tale of this team,” said Bailey. “We’re young and we don’t finish.”

And when Windham regrouped in the second half, it cost the Bulldogs. The Eagles went on a drive fueled by a 35-yard pass from Todd Allen to Damien Shepard and got a 25-yard field goal from freshman Josh Dugas for a 9-7 lead.

The Eagles had another opportunity following a short Portland punt, but stalled at the Bulldogs’ 22. The Windham defense, which took away Portland’s running game in the second half, then forced another punt from the Portland 39.

The snap went over Nick Volger’s head, but he tracked it down, eluded a tackler and got off a kick that rolled to the Windham 49. From there it took Windham 10 plays to score on a 3-yard run by Allen, who finished with 67 rushing yards. He also completed three passes for 64 yards in the second half.

Of his quarterback switch, Perkins said: “It’s a big puzzle and we’re trying to put the right guys in the right spot. That’s what it comes down to.”

Perkins said the biggest difference in the Eagles’ success the last two weeks is that “we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We’re getting better at that.

“The first three games we did that a lot. We’d jump offsides, we’d hold, we’d do those things that added up. We’re trying to get better at that.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH