The 1925 Portsmouth Trojans District Championship and State Tournament Team

Submitted by trojan7 on Tue, 06/07/2022 - 23:31

The 1925 Portsmouth Trojans has the distinction of being the first PHS squad to advance to the state tournament, which was started by the OHSAA in 1923. The first of Portsmouth's 15 state appearances had a regular season record of 11-2. PHS opened the season with a win over Piketon, and then followed that with wins over Portsmouth West and Portsmouth East. PHS swept Ironton, and Ashland KY suffered the same fate, with one of the games being a 36-11 blowout. Portsmouth nipped Chillicothe, then split with Huntington WV by the same scores in both games of 28-21. Athens dealt the Trojans their only other loss in the regular campaign, topping PHS 23-16.

The OHSAA tournament was formatted in a Sweet 16 bracket, with the Trojans advancing to what is today the regional finals. The Springfield Wildcats were the opponent for the Red and Blue, and unfortunately would deny Portsmouth its first trip to the Final 4.  James Duduit of PHS made All-SE district second team.