by Savannah Sorensen

Last Friday, the Trojans football team traveled to Clarinda, where they took on the Cardinals for the first game of the season. After a tough battle and an hour and twenty-five minute lightning delay, they fell to the Cardinals 60-14.

Head coach Eric Waldstein said, “We need to give better effort across the board. The effort wasn’t there and that needs to change.”

Starting off rough, the Trojans had a small comeback second quarter, causing three Cardinal turnovers. One of those turnovers included an interception by senior Robby Bodine. The Cardinals rallied to a 34-6 lead at halftime. Senior Joey Walker scored both touchdowns for the Trojans.

According to Waldstein, some key highlights included running the ball well at times, the punt team did a nice job and “we did have some nice stops on defense.”  Junior Brendan Holmes said, “(We) didn’t play very well, effort level was very low. We needed to run routes harder and make tackles.” Senior Brody Peterson said, “We could have given a little more effort. We did some good things and some bad things.”

Bodine thinks he played alright but “there were a few plays where I didn’t do my job and it hurt us.”  Bodine was a key player, according to Waldstein, because he “did a great job punting the football.”

As the Trojans are currently 0-1 on the season, they are preparing for this week’s game against Denison. The team’s focus is effort. Bodine said, “We are a better team than what we showed last Friday, and I’m excited to improve this Friday.” Holmes said, “(We) need to improve on being mentally tough and having the will to want to win more than our opponent.”

The Trojans take on the Denison-Schleswig Monarchs this Friday at the Trojan Bowl, beginning at 7:30 p.m. A theme for the students is to be announced.