by Anthony Robinson

After two frustrating losses in the first two weeks of Tim Duff’s second campaign as head coach, the Trojans traveled to Winterset for the first game of district play, Friday, September 9.

The Trojans fell behind early and led for only 20 seconds through0ut the first three quarters, before late heroics allowed the Trojans to defeat the Huskies.

After an interception in the end zone by junior Sam Markham, the Trojans marched down field and scored after a five-yard hard-nosed run by senior Gunnar Blum to tie the game. Senior Christian Holzapfel’s extra point gave the Trojans the lead with 43 seconds left.

Senior rover Ethan Westering picked off an errent Huskie pass to seal the 14-13 victory for the Trojans.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys,” coach Duff said after the game.

Brennan Kaldenberg scored the first touchdown of the game for Winterset on 48-yard run. The Huskies went for two but the Trojans  special teams were able to sniff out the attempt. The defensive stop on the two point try proved bigger than the Huskies were intending.

After the touchdown, Atlantic started their next drive from their own nine-yard line. The Trojans were forced to punt, but the snap to Blum looked disastorous. Blum was unable to get the punt away, but turned nothing into something, picking up the ball and running 19 yards for the first down.

Sophomore Jacob Dvorak capped off the long drive, finding the end zone from 10 yards out. Markham’s extra point was good, giving the Trojans a 7-6 lead with 10:33 left in the half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jake Weaver found an opening and returned it 85 yards for a score. After the extra point kick, the Huskies regained the lead, 13-7.

Winterset missed a field goal with two seconds remaining in the half, keeping the score at 13-7 in favor of the Huskies.

In the third, both defenses turned it up a notch, not giving an inch to either offense. Neither team scored in the third.

The Trojans were able to get all the way down to the Huskie 5 before fumbling the ball, giving the Huskies a chance to run down the clock at the midway point in the final quarter.

The Huskies had a drive going on all runs, before attempting their first pass, inside the Trojans red zone. Markham read the play perfectly, picking the ball off in the end zone, setting up the game-winning drive for the Trojans’. The Trojans had to go 90 yards to win the game.

After a few plays, with the ball at the Winterset 48, quarterback Harrison Hoegh found junior wide-out Dalton Franken to convert a fourth down. On the next play, Markham made an athletic diving catch to pick up 34 yards for the Trojans, putting the ball at Huskie five.  Blum punched the ball into the endzone on first and goal for the Trojans.

The Atlantic defense never let up in the second half, holding the Huskies to 111 yards of offense. “Our defense stepped it up,” Duff said.

The Trojans had 153 yards of offense in the second half.

The Trojans host the Creston Panthers next week. Creston picked up a 21-19 win over Lewis Central the same night the Trojans beat Winterset.