Defense holds Whippets to a single safety last week
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
East Troy travels to Walworth to face Big Foot tonight at 7 p.m. The Chiefs used a 35-point second-quarter scoring blitz to knock off one of the RVC pre-season favorites, Beloit Turner, last week.
Crandall is expecting a tough challenge in Week 3.
“Big Foot looks to have some very good athletes,” he said. “They are running a different (offense) this year than previous (years). Big Foot’s defense forced a bunch of turnovers against Turner, so we have to be prepared for that.”
As for his team, the plan remains the same during this week’s preparations, Crandall said.
“We need to continue to get better in all three phases of our game (offense, defense, special teams),” he said. “We need to limit our turnovers against Big Foot and be ready to play four hard quarters of football on Friday.”
Vs. Whitewater
Even though a safety late in the first half by Whitewater last Friday night only cut the East Troy football team’s lead to 12 points, it could have shifted the momentum.
But only if the Trojans allowed that to happen, which they refused to do.
East Troy answered the safety with a touchdown of its own to rebuild its lead 19 points by halftime and cruised to a 28-2 Rock Valley Conference victory.
The win improved the Trojans to 2-0 overall and 2-0 in the RVC.
East Troy quarterback Mac Dudkiewicz, who completed 22-of-39 passes for 306 yards, connected on an 18-yard scoring strike to Silas Heimos (seven catches, 57 yards) with just 38 seconds left before halftime.
And that was exactly what the Trojans needed at that moment, East Troy coach Jeff Crandall said.
“The touchdown to end the first half was big,” he said. “We had been making a bunch of mistakes on offense, and we were able to put together a great drive.”
East Troy sealed the victory in the third quarter with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Dudkiewicz to Jordan Matson.
Matson caught nine passes for 177 yards, as he and Dudkiewicz were a lethal tandem all night long.
“Mac and Jordan did some excellent things,” Crandall said. “They are starting to develop some real good chemistry on the field, and it showed on Friday.”
East Troy put the game’s first points on the scoreboard at the four-minute mark of the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Connor Paullin (seven rushes, 20 yards), followed by an 8-yard run by Dudkiewicz with 8:55 left in the opening half that built the lead to 14-0.
Defensive leaders for the Trojans were Zack Burke and Victor Chapman with 13 tackles each and Drake Kulick, Brady Barels and Brady Fisher with eight apiece.
There was a lot to like from the victory Friday night, Crandall said.
“We played outstanding on defense and played well at times on offense,” he said.
Crandall added that he’s pleased with his team’s strong start to the 2019 campaign.
“It’s good to be 2-0,” he said. “We have been working hard to get better each week and will continue those efforts this week as we prepare for Big Foot.”
