East Providence quarterback Aaron Spivey, center, is ridden to the ground by a host of Portsmouth defenders during the first quarter of last Sunday’s game. The Patriots (3-0) prevailed, 24-14, and face a Division I showdown with La Salle tonight.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

“What arguably was the most exciting high school football game in modern times,” former Journal sports writer Bob Leddy wrote in 2000 about the Division I Super Bowl game between Portsmouth and La Salle.

Leddy might have gone a little heavy on the hyperbole, but many among the reported 6,000 fans at Pierce Stadium that December day likely would tell you that the game was a classic.

It was a great time for Rhode Island high school football.

That day, La Salle was led by speedy, elusive sophomore running back Lorenzo Perry. The 2000 season was the first of three consecutive years Perry earned first-team All-State honors before going on to become a Division II collegiate All-American at Bryant University.

Portsmouth was led by Ralph Plumb, the senior All-State quarterback, who went on to set several Yale University records as a wide receiver.

Plumb led Portsmouth to a 33-28 lead going into the fourth quarter that day with two touchdowns, two field goals and three conversion kicks. But then, with 31 seconds to play in the game, Perry scored his third touchdown of the game and La Salle had its first state football title in the 28-year history of the R.I. Interscholastic League Super Bowl competition.

I’m sure some people figured the 2000 state title game would be the first of what would be many classic Portsmouth-La Salle matchups.

After all, Portsmouth, the public school with only a mid-size enrollment but big-time football aspirations, had won four of the previous nine state titles and appeared in seven Division I Super Bowls from 1991 to 2000.

And La Salle, the school with the great football tradition but no modern state championships until that day, looked as if it was back as a state gridiron power.

La Salle successfully defended its state crown in 2001 and also earned four more Super Bowl berths from 2002-06. But the 2000 Super Bowl was the last time Portsmouth and La Salle played a game with the state title on the line.

Portsmouth’s run of four state titles and seven Super Bowl appearances in 10 years, from 1991-2000, defied the odds. A public school the size of Portsmouth (just over 500 boys) is not supposed to dominate the large public schools and the private schools, which have geographic advantages.

So, in some way, it’s probably not surprising the 2000 game was the last time Portsmouth played in a state title game. For the most part over the last seven years, the Patriots have been competitive, earning a fair share of playoff berths in the four-team Division I playoff format. But Portsmouth has not won a playoff game since 2000, and last season the Patriots won only one of their eight Division I games.

But this season, things are different. This year, a Portsmouth-La Salle game has the potential to be something special.

When the Patriots and Rams meet tonight at 7 o’clock at La Salle’s Cronin Athletic Complex, it will be a matchup of two of only three teams that have started off the Division I season with two straight victories.

But it isn’t just the fact that Portsmouth and La Salle are deadlocked with Barrington for the Division I lead with 2-0 records. It’s how the Rams and Patriots have achieved their unblemished slates that has Portsmouth fans excited about the season, and La Salle fans thinking this could be the year the Rams are back at the Super Bowl after a two-year absence.

Portsmouth followed a nonleague triumph over Mt. Hope with Division I victories over Hendricken, a team that played in each of the last two Division I Super Bowls, and East Providence, the 2006 state champion.

La Salle, meanwhile, has outscored the opposition, 87-13, en route to Division I victories over North Kingstown and Rogers and a nonleague win over Shea.

So far, La Salle has shown it has the makings of a title contender. The Rams have two outstanding running backs in Gus DelFarno and Kendall Perry, Lorenzo’s younger brother. They also have an experienced quarterback in senior Joe Charest, who has shown he not only can throw, but also can produce points with his running. In the Rams’ two Division I games, Charest has already run for three touchdowns. Allowing only 13 points in 144 minutes shows the Rams also know how to play defense.

This year’s Portsmouth team isn’t like the Patriots of old, who had headliners such as Mike Cloud and Plumb. It’s a team that can run the ball, but seems to feature running by committee rather than by superstar.

In a 24-14 victory over East Providence last Sunday, the Patriots got touchdown runs by A.J. Pollock and Ben Grande, and Pollock and Remy Alves combined for 217 yards rushing. In its victories over Mt. Hope and Hendricken, the Patriots rushed for 603 yards. Like La Salle, the Patriots also have a talented quarterback in senior C.J. Martens.

So it’s not the Super Bowl, and it probably will not be “arguably the most exciting high school football game in modern times,” but tonight’s game should be interesting.

jgillool@projo.com