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Bell
took his turn, bounced to the right and outran a
speedy Trojan defense to the corner and the season's
first score. After a Jordan Bannerman Extra
Point, the first 7 would be the only 7 that they
needed. LB Chris Jacobs sacked the Trojan's
Marlow for a huge loss on the next possession.
The Trojans could not get any penetration for the
running game and even worse they couldn't provide
Marlow with any time to find an open receiver.
Things went from bad to worse for the Trojans when
Marlow ran the option, was stood up and hit hard,
fumbled the ball and was planted on the turf.
That would be Marlow's last play of the game.
After about a 20 minute delay, Marlow walked off
with a little help.
When
play resumed, Central had taken possession on the
Marlow fumble. Robinson went to work again
from the 12, carrying it 8 yards to the 4 and then
having his facemask inadvertently grabbed for an
extra 2 penalty yards. On first and goal from
the 2, Robinson was rewarded and finished the job
with a 2 yard TD run.
Dalzell went to work with both his arm and his feet
on Central's next possession, the possession
that took the wind out of Saginaw High's sails for
the time being. After Dalzell hooked with WR
Sergio Campbell for a big gain, Dalzell kept it
himself on the next play, a fake to the halfback and
keeper up the gut for 15 yards to the SHS 23.
With just under 8 and a half minutes to play in the
game, Central was forced into a 4th and long 1 at
the Trojans 15. Dalzell went left on the
bootleg and stretched out will all of his might to
just reach over the first down marker and move the
sticks. Central found themselves in another
4th down situation at Saginaw High's 6 yard line
with 3 to go. On 4th down, Dalzell faked the
handoff, rolled left and then lofted a ball over two
defenders while on the run to an open WR Jason
Wright for 6 and a commanding 3 touchdown lead.
That would finish the scoring for the first half. |
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The
Trojans came out in the second half with just as
much emotion that they had to start the game.
If they could just buy some time for the QB and
hold off the punishing defensive front, maybe
they could get back into the game. They
had done well on defense for the most part, they
had some nice trick plays including a fake punt
on 4th and long that netted an important first
down to keep a drive alive.
The emotion started to deflate little by little.
The second half kickoff was almost returned all
the way by Gamebreaker Trenton Robinson.
He was one tackler away near midfield from
taking it to the house. Central was unable
to score in the third quarter but either were the
Trojans, both defenses had turned it up a notch.
Central finally start to get back on an offensive
track with just over 3 minutes to go in the 3rd
quarter. Dalzell ran the keeper for 23
yards up the middle to the SHS 35. On the
next play, he hit an open receiver on the right
side for another chunk of yards. After 2
Robinson runs to the 3, the Wolves were knocking
on the door again. On third and goal the
Trojans stepped up big time and forced an errant
Dalzell pass that was almost flagged for intentional
grounding. It forced a forth down, but
only for a moment. More dirty laundry
littered the field and it cost Saginaw High once
again. An inadvertent facemask pushed
Central up to the 2. On third and goal
from the two, Robinson punched it in, but it was
called back on an illegal procedure penalty.
From the 7, Dalzell kept it again, dragged about
2 defenders and fell just inches short of the
goaline. On the first play of the 4th
quarter, Dalzell snuck it in for the final TD of
the game.
Just when the Saginaw High offense started to
gain some momentum, that defensive front, this
time led by LB Dan O'Shea, stuffed Saginaw High
again for a major loss. Teriol Moore was
able to bust open for a big gain down the
Central 30, which was moved up 15 more yards to
the 15 on a late hit out of bounds. From
the 15, the defense stepped up yet again,
sacking Ashford behind the line of scrimmage.
On 4th and 17, the Trojans were able to buy some
time as Ashford rolled to his right and found WR
DeMario Wilson to be open in the back of the
endzone. Just as the ball was coming to
Wilson, Sergio Campbell made a great break on
the ball and tipped it from harms way saving a
TD and forcing the turnover on downs.
With just over 6 minutes remaining, it was mass
substitution time, Jr. Wolves QB Alex Bush
entered the game to get some valuable experience
in a game situation. Bush seemed the
handle the spread relatively well. On
defense, the depth was tremendous for Central.
Even with some starters out of the game, the
reinforcements were still keeping the shutout
intact.
With 1:11 remaining, the Trojans took over at
their own 48 and had one thing on their minds,
getting at least one score. Lamarcus
Morris ripped off a big 32 yard gain to get the
ball deep into Central territory. With
nine seconds remaining, the Trojans had a first
down at the Central 14. After a few
incompletions 2 seconds
remained. Ashford rolled out and heaved one
last pass towards the endzone. The
desperation pass was knocked away by LB Kevin
Durocher and it was all she wrote.
Even though it was just the first week of the
season and late August, we learned a lot about
these two teams tonight. For one, Central,
one of the pre-season Valley favorites, are
about as good as advertised, and their defense
may even be a little better. Two, Saginaw
High has a taken a big step in character from
just a season ago. They fought all the way
until the final 2 seconds ticked away.
Saginaw High needs to find a way to buy their QB
some time and contain some of the big plays on
defense.
Most of that comes with practice and time.
They could very well be a much different team by
week 9. Central although impressive, also
have some kinks to work out and they must work
them out in a hurry. They travel to
Lansing next week to take on another speedy team
in Everett. If the Wolves can play up to
their full potential next week, they should
return home next week with a 2 - 0 record.
Saginaw High must go on the road again next week
to face Saginaw rival Heritage. |
