By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The numbers don’t lie – the East Troy football team still is without a blemish in 2012.
But as far as coach Eric Sulik is concerned, even with his team’s three wins, he and the Trojans know they can be even better.
And that could be a scary thought for East Troy’s remaining opponents.
The Trojans methodically took care of visiting Palmyra-Eagle Friday night 25-0 to improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Rock Valley Conference. Through three games, East Troy has outscored its opponents 96-12.
Sulik again was pleased with the effort on both sides of the ball.
“We did some good things,” he said. “We only gave up (about) 108 yards in total offense. That’s not too bad at all. Palmyra was certainly better than their record coming in.
“They caused us some problems, and we had some errors mentally (on offense) in the first half, but the second half, the kids really responded and got after it. … There’s things to improve upon. We’re still not walking on water, but I kind of like where we’re at.”
East Troy quarterback Brandon Matz continued his hot early-season play when he hit Cody Zaeske on a 22-yard scoring play in the first quarter.
Matz, who has thrown for 11 touchdowns so far in 2012, then hurt the Panthers with his legs, as he ran in from six yards to extend the lead to 13-0 at halftime.
East Troy scored two more touchdowns in the second half to close out the game.
Joey Dedick got into the act with his first rushing touchdown of the season on a 2-yard plunge in the third quarter.
East Troy’s final touchdown came from a familiar combination, as Matz hit Nate Dodge with a 70-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter.
For the game, Matz completed eight of 18 passing attempts for 166 yards, while Dedick led the rushing attack with 11 carries for 85 yards.
Matz also rushed for 71 yards on 18 carries, while Dodge caught two passes for 99 yards. Zaeske had a team-high five receptions for 66 yards.
Sulik was pleased to see his offense put together a fairly balanced attack against the Panthers.
“We’re very balanced this year,” he said. “Compared to last year when we had D.J. (Sweet), and then we passed when we had to or just to keep the defense honest.
“This year, with Brandon and the kind of receivers that Dodge and Zaeske are, (along) with some of our juniors, we’re a lot more balanced. I don’t see that necessarily changing as the season goes on.”
The Trojans now turn their attention to their toughest test to date, as they host Jefferson Friday night at 7 p.m. The Eagles improved to 3-0 last week with a 46-21 win over Clinton.
Senior Zeke Emerick had a huge game for the Eagles, as he rushed 22 times for 309 yards and five touchdowns.
Sulik is well aware of both Emerick and Jefferson as a whole – and he knows the challenge his team faces this week.
“Every year, they have their system in, they’re really well coached, they don’t make mistakes,” Sulik said. “They do a lot of things I really admire because they don’t hurt themselves.
“We’ll definitely have our hands full Friday night, but at the same time, I think our kids have prepared well. We’ll continue to prepare in practice this week and look forward to the challenge. It should be a lot of fun.”
Sulik said the Jefferson offense, which looks more like a rugby scrum, always poses a different – and difficult – challenge for the opposition.
But he’s confident his squad and coaching staff will rise to the occasion once again.
“It’s just a lot of preparation,” Sulik said. “Our defensive coordinator has played against this offense a few times. Even though we gave up 35 last year, we’ll have some guys step up and do a good job.
“If we can establish our offense earlier in the game, we should be pretty good.”
