Trojans open season with win over McFarland
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
If anybody thought the East Troy and McFarland football teams were going to ease into the 2017 campaign Friday night, they were dead wrong.
A total of 89 combined points and nearly 1,000 total yards between the two drove the point home.
East Troy overcame a 36-21 halftime deficit with a 26-6 scoring advantage the final two quarters to post a wild 47-42 Rock Valley Conference victory in the season opener for both teams.
Not a bad way to kick things off.
“Our players battled and always believed in themselves,” East Troy coach Jeff Crandall said. “Having a team that never gives up and fights to the end shows the kind of players we have.”
The Trojans completed the comeback with a little more than two minutes remaining.
Junior quarterback Jake Dessart, who threw for 235 yards and rushed for 109 more, connected on a 27-yard scoring strike to junior Jacob Price to account for the final points of the night.
Crandall said his team’s defense set up the winning drive by turning the ball over the offense in a good spot – and Dessart and Price took things from there.
“Price was single covered, and the offensive line and running back did a great job in picking up the blitz,” he said. “Dessart’s pass was in a spot that Price was able to make the catch and then score the touchdown.”
Three straight East Troy touchdowns to start the second half put the Trojans out front heading into the fourth quarter.
After Dessart, who rushed for four touchdowns, scored junior running back Dylan Jakscht, who had 201 yards rushing, got into the act.
Jakscht scored on runs of 1 and 5 yards to give East Troy a 41-36 lead.
“Dylan’s success was no surprise, as he has prepared himself by getting in the weight room in the offseason,” Crandall said. “Dylan runs hard and was able to pick up lots of yards after contact. It (also) goes without saying that, when you rush for 200 yards, you also had some good blocking.”
Crandall lauded the efforts up front by junior Evan Stanford, junior Noah Bearce, senior Jacob Mast, junior John Marschke and senior Chris Storandt.
“(They) opened up some nice running lanes for Dylan to run in,” he said.
McFarland regained the lead with a four-quarter score of its own when quarterback Derek Schwarting and receiver Donovan Hudson hooked up on a 23-yard touchdown pass to set up East Troy’s late heroics.
High-paced half
Dessart accounted for all three East Troy touchdowns in the first half, as he scored on runs of 3, 10 and 1 yards.
It’s only one game, but Dessart commanded the offense right from the start, Crandall said.
“Dessart spent a large amount of time preparing for the season, both in the weight room and by attending a number of camps to improve himself,” Crandall said. “Jake was directing the offense and taking what the defense was giving us.”
McFarland took its lead into the intermission on two touchdown passes from Schwarting, a 23-yard hook up to Reece Samuel and a 10 yarder to Hudson.
Crandall said the halftime deficit didn’t lead to any panic among his team, as the Trojans made the necessary adjustments heading into the final two quarters.
“Defensively, our players were able to make some adjustments that put us in better positions to defend McFarland,” he said. “Our offensive line stepped up big in the second half and started making nice running lanes for our ball carriers.
“Both sides of the ball stepped up their play allowing us to play a very good second half of football.”
Another tough one
Things won’t get any easier this week, as the Trojans host Big Foot tonight at 7 p.m. The Chiefs got off to a strong start in Week 1 with a 47-27 victory over Brodhead-Juda.
East Troy beat Big Foot in another wild affair in 2016, 48-43, and Crandall knows the potential is there for another back-and-forth matchup this week.
“Big Foot has one of the best players in the conference in quarterback Jackson Enz,” he said. “In order for us to be successful, we need to contain him.
“(They) have very good receivers, and with Enz at (quarterback), they can score very quickly. We need to play solid defense and run the ball well to be successful.”
