SOUTH PORTLAND – The victory bell tolled Saturday for South Portland as the Red Riots held off Portland 13-7 in the Battle of the Bridge.

The win included a fourth- quarter defensive stand inside the 10 and left no question: South Portland (5-3) is a Western Class A playoff team this year.

The Red Riots, who hadn’t made the playoffs in eight years, will be seeded seventh and will play at second-ranked Bonny Eagle (7-1) next week.

The Riots survived a fumble deep in their own territory in the closing minutes, stopping Portland on downs.

“High school sports can be so much about momentum and emotion,” said South Portland Coach Steve Stinson. “The poise they were able to show there was outstanding. That was a huge stand.”

The Red Riots got 206 yards rushing and a touchdown from running back Joey DiBiase.

He scored on the team’s first play, cutting left to the outside, then back through the middle to go 34 yards with 10:53 left in the first quarter. Brendan Horton’s extra point was good, and South Portland held its 7-0 lead through three quarters.

“My dad’s on the Portland staff so I couldn’t live in my house if we lost,” said DiBiase. “South Portland hasn’t had a playoff in eight years. We wanted to be that team to turn it around. The defense played amazing today. And the holes our offensive line made were incredible.”

The Red Riots opened the fourth quarter with a 2-yard rushing score from Jacob Stanley to go up 13-0. The point after went wide.

The Bulldogs (2-6) came alive on offense to go 65 yards on their next possession, finishing with a 2-yard TD run by Caleb Kenney with 4:41 to play. Kenney rushed for 97 yards for the Bulldogs.

Portland had a chance to win it 30 seconds later after linebacker Nemanja Jankovic recovered a fumbled snap at the Riots’ 12.

Kenney picked up 6 yards on two carries, then caught a screen pass from Matt McInnis on fourth-and-4 that came up a yard short with 3:35 left.

“I thought we had plenty of time,” said Portland Coach Mike Bailey.

“We just didn’t complete. (We) woke up in the second half, but we had two opportunities and didn’t capitalize.”

Portland did get another chance after a South Portland series that ended with a punt to the Portland 49.

There was 1:41 remaining.

McInnis completed passes of 15 and 6 yards to Seamus Kilbride to get to the Red Riots’ 36.

A pass to Kenney on third-and-4 was dropped, and a bad snap on fourth down meant Nick Volger took a broken handoff and tried to get to the first-down marker but came up just short.

“There’s a 95-year tradition for the Bridge,” said Bailey. “There’s a tradition here and we wanted to keep that pride.”

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at: jmenendez@pressherald.com