SOUTH PORTLAND — The Portland High football team has a belt – a big, gaudy, wrestling champion kind of belt that goes to the playmaker of the game. When Coach Sean Green presented it to Cordell Jones following Friday night’s 39-21 win over rival South Portland, Jones politely declined to accept it.

True, Jones scored four touchdowns and had an interception in the Bulldogs’ fourth straight victory in the Battle of the Bridge rivalry, but he wanted to share the wealth. Instead of taking the belt, he passed it on to sophomore kicker Justin Bouchard, who made field goals of 37 and 30 yards.

“Every time I get that belt, there’s something about it,” said Jones, a junior. “I like to be humble and give it up to my teammates.”

Jones caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from Louis Thurston and added touchdown runs of 64, 14 and 16 yards. His interception midway through the third quarter set up a Portland touchdown. Jones finished with 168 yards rushing on 12 carries and two catches for 81 yards.

“I’m obviously biased, but I think Cordell Jones is the best football player in the state,” Green said. “Offense, defense, special teams, you name it. He can do it all for us. He lines up everywhere on the offensive side of the ball for us.”

Portland ends the regular season 7-2 and will be the top seed in Class A North playoffs. South Portland (5-4) will be the No. 4 seed in Class A South.

“We’ve been really susceptible to big plays and kind of shooting ourselves in the foot, and that kind of continued tonight. We continue to be proud of their effort. We made plays, but we just can’t string enough together,” said South Portland Coach Aaron Filieo.

Down 19-14 at the half, South Portland got the ball to start the third quarter, and Filieo made a gutsy call, going for it on fourth-and-2 from the Red Riots 32. Easton Healy was stopped after a 1-yard gain, and Portland took over. Six plays later, Jones scored on a 14-yard run for a 26-14 lead.

“We were doing some things that we liked, so we thought we would get it. We go for it on fourth down all the time,” Filieo said. “We came into this game with an attitude of, we’re not going to leave any regrets on the field, so we felt pretty good about that particular call. (Portland) made a good play.”

Jones’ interception set up Portland’s next touchdown, on a 20-yard run by Aidan McGowan, for a 33-14 lead late in the third quarter.

“He’s been snake bitten with picks this year. It was nice to see him get that one, because he’s always there. It was definitely something we needed at that point in the game,” Green said.

After Bouchard’s 37-yard field goal, which he banked off the right upright, gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter, Jones scored his first touchdown on Portland’s next possession. He caught a tipped Thurston pass at the line of scrimmage, evaded a tackle and went 65 yards for the score.

“The defender tipped it in the air, and I was like, ‘oh my God, I’ve got to go get this thing.’ Then they missed a tackle, I saw green, and I was gone. I didn’t really look back,” Jones said.

Jones broke a 64-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter for a 16-0 lead. South Portland sandwiched a pair of touchdowns – a 13-yard run by Healy and a 1-yard catch by Tristen Sanders from Parker Reny – around Bouchard’s 30-yard field goal, cutting Portland’s lead to 19-14 at the half.

“We had some moments where we didn’t focus on things and that led to them scoring. In the playoffs this week, we’ve got to lock in, fix things, and get better,” Jones said.

South Portland’s Alex Horton caught seven passes for 140 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown pass from Reny in the fourth quarter.

With the playoffs ahead, Green says his team has plenty of things to clean up.

“Bad football. Some really bad football by us. We had more procedure penalties this game than we’ve had all season long,” Green said.