Cyclones too much for Trojans

by Anthony Robinson

The Trojan football team was blown away by the Cyclones.

The Atlantic Trojans traveled to Harlan to take on the Cyclones in a class 3A, district 1 matchup, Friday, October 1. The Cyclones’ relentless offense and stiff defense was too much for the Trojans, scoring six times, en route to a 42-0 win.

The Cyclones jumped out to an early lead with a 39-yard touchdown pass at the 7:28 mark in the first quarter.

After a Trojans punt, Harlan running back Dylan Barrett scampered 44 yards on the first play of the drive for Harlan’s second touchdown of the quarter.

On their next possession, Zach Osborn threw a 27-yard touchdown pass which stretched the Harlan Community Cyclones’ lead to 21-0 after the first quarter. Harlan forced the Trojans to punt 4 times in the first quarter.

After two rushing touchdowns in the 2^nd quarter, Harlan took a commanding 35-0 lead into the halftime break. The Trojans were able to string out a few first downs in the first half, but were unable to produce any drives leading to points.

Coach Duff said,”Harlan is a very good, physical team. In order for us to play with these type of teams we have to compete and be as physical as them. Unfortunately, we were not able to keep up with them. Now we are looking ahead toward the rest of our games.”

Less than three minutes into the second half, Dylan Barrett ran for another Cyclone touchdown, stretching the lead to 42-0, Harlan Community.

Midway through the third quarter, Philip Iekel’s breakaway run put the Trojans in the red-zone for the first time in the game. After a few negative yardage plays, the Trojans were unable to put any points on the board after turning the ball over on downs.

The Trojans were able to hold the Cyclones to zero points in the final quarter of play, but were unable to get their offense rolling.

Senior Offensive lineman Derek Tjepkes felt the offense was able to move the ball against the Harlan defense, “but weren’t able to string together many first downs,” He felt that the offense came out ready to play, but were unable to get the big play to put the momentum on their side of the ball.

Next Friday, the Trojans are back at Trojan Bowl for the final home game of the 2010 season, as the Lewis Central Titans travel to Atlantic.