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AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

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Atlantic football season wrap-up

by Anthony Robinson

After ending the regular season with two consecutive home victories, the Trojan football team qualified for postseason play. The Trojans traveled to Hull on Nov. 1 to take on the Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley Nighthawks in the first round of the playoffs.

According to coach Duff, “winning the last two games of the season” was a major highlight of the season. “We gave ourselves the opportunity to get into the playoffs,” Duff said.

“Getting an extra playoff game was a big step for us, and hopefully something we can build off of going into the future.”

Ten seniors led the Trojans to a 4-6 record overall, and 4-3 in District 1 of Class 3A.

Duff said this year’s seniors  “had a rough go. They’ve had a lot of different offensive schemes and defensive schemes throughout their years’ in high school. They’ve been through a lot as a group, but they never complain. They really did try to buckle down and learn things that coaches wanted them to learn and I think that’s a lot of credit to them and their perseverance. Getting into the playoffs was richly deserved for this group of kids.”

The Trojans look back on a season that opened with a devastating loss at home to the Denison Monarchs, 20-14. The Trojans had an opportunity to score on the final drive of the game, but then threw an interception, giving the Monarchs the win.

This seemed to be a pattern throughout the season, as the Trojans had four opportunities to win the game on their final drives of the game.

After the loss in week one, the Trojans traveled to Carroll to take on the Kuemper Knights. The Trojans were held stagnant in the first half, but came out with a sense of urgency in second half, scoring on their first drive. Atlantic pulled within four (17-13) before Kuemper returned a Trojan fumble for a touchdown, giving the home team all of the momentum. The 17-point loss (30-13) was the largest margin of defeat all season for the Trojans.

“Early in the season we had a few mistakes that really gave momentum away. We had some mistakes, self-inflicted wounds where we turned the ball over or had some blown assignments that cost us dearly in tough situations,” Duff said.

The Trojans earned their only win on the final drive of the game against the Winterset Huskies during week three.

After a loss to eventual district champion Creston, the Trojans defeated the Glenwood Rams.

The Trojans trailed 7-0 before scoring 20 unanswered and gaining 391 yards of offense on Glenwood’s turf.

Week six featured a match-up against Harlan for Atlantic’s homecoming. The Trojans lost a shootout that featured a combined 66 points and 856 yards of offense.

Coach Duff says the game against the Cyclones was one of the biggest games of the year. “(A big moment was) when we played Harlan. Offensively I thought we really showed that we were a capable offensive team. We were moving the ball very well and I think that was a tough loss for us because I though we played fairly well. We just gave up an early score and we chased that score for the rest of the game. I thought we competed from that moment (in the season) forward.”

The Trojans traveled to Council Bluffs to take on the Lewis Central Titans the following week. The black-and-gold out-gained the Titans in every offensive category but fell short, 17-10.

The Trojans’ loss to Lewis Central proved to be their final loss of the regular season.

Atlantic ended the season at home with Carroll and Red Oak.

The Trojans were heavy underdogs going into the game against the then one-loss Carroll Tigers. The Trojans jumped out early forcing three turnovers. Atlantic never let up, putting up 41 points and 478 total yards.

In the final game of the regular season, the Trojans put up 49 points in the first half (55 points in entire game) against the smaller Red Oak Tigers.

After the win, the Trojans had the unique opportunity to get into the playoffs. The black-and-gold faithful waited for the result of the Winterset-Lewis Central game. Winterset defeated the Titans in come-from-behind style, pushing the Trojans into the playoffs.

After the long drive to Hull, the Trojans turned the ball over on the second play of the game. The Nighthawks scored 10 points in the first quarter.

The Trojans fought from behind all night, but fell short 17-7.

According to coach Duff, the Trojans grew as a team the entire season. Duff said the last three weeks of the season had some of the best practices of the year.

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