Titans too much for Trojans

by Anthony Robinson

The Atlantic football team played their final home game of the 2010 season against the Lewis Central Titans, Friday, Oct. 8.

The Trojans were defeated 32-0 in the final game played at the Trojan Bowl in the 2010 season.  With the loss the Trojans fell to 1-6 on the season, and 1-4 in district play.

Early in the first quarter the Trojans were able to cause a Titans fumble at the Trojans’ one yard line.  After taking possession the Trojans were unable to move the ball efficiently before the Trojans’ first punt of the game.

At the 3:23 mark in the first quarter, quarterback Alex Reed found Chase Gibson for a 33 yard touchdown pass for Lewis Central’s first score of the night.

Near the beginning of the second quarter, Lewis Central was able to score their second touchdown to extend their lead, 14-0.  On the ensuing kickoff, the Trojans began within their own 20 yard line.  Senior quarterback Parker Hoye, fumbled the snap before falling to one knee in the end zone, causing a safety.

Later in the second quarter, the Titans drove down to the Trojans’ 5 yard line before turning the ball over on downs.

The Trojans were able to convert a 38 yard screen pass to Christian Holzapfel after the change of possession, but were unable to score any points going into the halftime break, trailing 16-0.  Hoye commented on the team’s momentum going into halftime.  “Any momentum we had after that (the screen pass) was wiped away because we were unable to capitalize,”

Midway through the third quarter, Lewis Central senior quarterback Chance Otto found Nolan Gillespie on a 15 yard post across the middle of the field to extend the Titans lead to 22-0.   After a 25 yard field goal Lewis Central lead 25-0 after three quarters of play.

In the fourth quarter, the Trojans were able to get into the red zone for the first time in the game, but were unable to score any points.  Lewis Central put another touchdown on the board to extend the lead to the final 32-0 Titans.

This was the final game for nine senior Trojans, including Hoye, “The last game (at the Trojan Bowl) could be the most memorable, but we messed that up (the seniors)…it (the game) was disappointing.”

Senior linebacker and fullback Philip Iekel felt that, “Last night (Friday), our offense didn’t click,(but) the defense did pretty good. The offense just couldn’t capitalize on a couple of 30 or 40 yard drives.” He also felt that on the offensive side of the ball, the Trojans passed a lot better than they ran the ball.   

Iekel said that the biggest adjustment the Trojans need to work on for next week is “finishing drives (on offense), it’s been the same story all year.  We get into a scoring situation but we shoot ourselves in the foot, with penalties and other mistakes.  If we can finish our drives we defiantly have a shot at winning.”

The Trojans travel to Carroll next Friday to take on the Carroll Tigers.