Dynamic 'Dogs, Part I: Things are rolling in Portageville of late

This is the first in a series of stories on the athletic success being earned by Portageville High School in recent seasons.

PORTAGEVILLE – Whatever your involvement in athletics has been throughout your life, be it a coach, an athlete, or simply a fan, it has become evident that success – or lack thereof – is often a roller coaster. When teams are struggling, it can seem like there is no end in sight, but when things are rolling, and in the case of Portageville High School athletics, the Bulldogs are rolling with ferocity of late, it can appear to be on cruise control.

“The coaches work really hard,” fourth-year Portageville football coach Ian Penrod said. “We have kids that are talented and coachable. We have great administrators and a great community.

“It makes it look like we know what we are doing.”

Foundational success

Penrod, in a way, serves as the foundational piece for the success of Portageville athletics. He supervises the weightlifting classes throughout the day, which have exploded in growth in his three years at the school.

“When we started,” Penrod recalled, “we had about 65 to 75 kids (enrolled). Now, we have around 110.”

It isn’t just the athletes that partake in the Bulldog strength and conditioning program, according to Penrod.

“We have non-athletes also,” Penrod said. “The kids just like the class.”

The work in the weight room can be measured on any given night or day, where the Bulldog student-athletes compete, and at any time of year, as well as on any field or court.

Setting the tone

“Ian and (volleyball coach Sasha Kellams) really set the tone for the year,” Portageville baseball coach and athletic director Tyler Trover said of the Bulldogs’ football and volleyball programs.

This past fall, Penrod led Portageville to the MSHSAA Class 1 quarterfinal after winning the program’s first District title in two decades.

“A lot of factors go into it,” Penrod said of the overall success that Portageville athletics. “The first thing is, if you’re going to run a race, then you have to have horses. Right now, we are fortunate, across all sports, we’ve got horses. We’ve got talent.

“We’ve got kids who can play. They are highly athletic and highly capable, also, exceptionally coachable.”

Penrod wasn’t alone this fall in earning accolades.

Kellams took over her alma mater four years ago and her diligence has begun to pay off.

After winning 16 games in her first two seasons, Kellams did as a coach, what she did as a Bulldog student-athlete, which is win a pair of MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championships over the past two seasons.

“With my girls,” Kellams explained, “I’ve been in their shoes, and I know exactly what it is like.

“We can connect and relate on a lot of different levels.”

Kellams helped Portageville to District titles in 2013 and 2014 before graduating in the spring of 2015 and has guided the program to 39 wins over the past two seasons.

“It’s even better on the coaching side of it,” Kellams said of the success. “Knowing how those girls feel.”

Homegrown

While Penrod (2009 East Prairie High), Trover (2007 Bernie High), and first-year softball coach Kelsey Snider (2011 Twin Rivers High) are each imports into the Portageville community, like Kellams, basketball coaches T.J. Smith and Kellye Fowler both graduated from Portageville, even in the same class (2008).

“There may be a little bit more pressure,” Fowler said of coaching in her hometown, “self-imposed pressure. But there is definitely a lot more pride, as well.”

Fowler wasted no time in learning how to manage the expectations of running the Bulldogs’ girls’ basketball program. She was just six years out of high school when she took over the program in 2014 and has led her girls to six winning seasons.

“I have just always had a heart for the girl’s basketball here,” Fowler explained. “It was always a dream of mine to come back here.”

Smith, who is in his first season in leading the boy’s basketball program, used the same reference, as he called being hired last spring his “dream job.”

“Ever since I played (at Portageville),” Smith said, “and I knew that I wanted to be a coach, I knew that I wanted to coach here.”

While Smith is trying to maintain the incredible tradition of success achieved by the Bulldog hoops program (the school has seven Final Four appearances and five state championships), Fowler is getting the program back on track after a couple of struggling years.

Over a three-year period, Portageville girls won just 19 games, but over the past year-and-a-half, Fowler’s kids have won 24 of 41 games.

“I played at Three Rivers,” Fowler said, “and I loved it there, but it wasn’t the same as playing at Portageville in front of this community.”

Coming Friday: Support makes coaching at Portageville a luring option.