Defense steps up in first football victory
By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
The back-to-the-basics approach taken by the East Troy football team the past week worked wonders Friday night.
And it was just what the Trojans needed.
After it allowed 70 points in its season opener the previous week, East Troy took control early and never gave it back en route to a commanding 41-14 non-conference win over visiting Elkhorn.
The win improved the Trojans to 1-1 overall, while the Elks dropped to 1-1.
East Troy coach Eric Sulik certainly didn’t enter the game thinking his team would blow out the Elks.
“I didn’t expect us to roll that much,” he said. “They looked bigger, more physical and improved over last year. … Our kids stepped up.”
Sulik said a key to success came right away, as Elkhorn moved down the field but fumbled on its first possession.
From there, the Trojans – and their passing attack led by quarterback Brandon Matz – went to work.
Matz connected on the first of his five touchdown passes, a 21-yard scoring strike to Cody Studt, to give East Troy a lead it would never give back.
“Brandon is doing a really good job of spreading the football around,” Sulik said. “We had five guys who caught passes. We did a nice job. We were able to establish the run game early, too. We did some good things.”
Matz and Studt connected again early in the second quarter, this time on an 8-yard touchdown, and after Elkhorn scored three minutes later, paired up for the third time in the opening half on a 28-yard pass.
Any chance Elkhorn had of climbing back into the game ended in the second half, as East Troy put the game out of reach.
Matz found Sam Eckert on a 6-yard touchdown pass, followed by a 15-yard scoring play to Matt Miller. East Troy’s Nathan Nguyen ended the Trojans’ scoring outburst with a 5-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Even better than the 41 points, Sulik said, was how his team bounced back defensively after the opening-week loss to Delavan. East Troy’s defense forced four Elkhorn turnovers in the contest.
“Defensively, I was so happy for our players as well as our coaches,” he said. “They really responded. We haven’t hit like that since Jefferson of last year. We just haven’t.”
Sulik added that much wasn’t said about the 70 points scored by the Comets that landed both teams in second place on the list of most total points ever scored in Wisconsin high school football.
It was time to turn the page.
“We didn’t talk a whole lot about the score itself and all the statistics,” Sulik said. “I told the guys flat out that stats are for losers. We’re ultimately concerned about playing well and winning games.”
For the game, Matz finished with 325 yards passing, as he completed 22 of 32 attempts and had five touchdowns. He also had 53 yards rushing on 15 attempts.
Nguyen led the rushing corps with nine carries for 70 yards, followed by Zack Lamb with 10 carries for 45 yards. Studt had eight receptions for 167 yards, followed by Miller with six catches for 75 yards, Charlie Kutschenreuter with two catches for 75 yards and Eckert with four catches for 37 yards.
Defensive leaders included Jeremy Dedick and Jake Wendt with 12 tackles, Josh Greznia with 10, Zach Brinkman with eight and Kutschenreuter with seven.
At Palmyra tonight
East Troy jumps into Rock Valley Conference play this week when it travels to Palmyra-Eagle High School Friday night for a 7 p.m. contest with the Panthers.
Palmyra fell to 0-2 overall last week with a 29-18 non-conference loss at Iowa-Grant.
East Troy beat the Panthers 26-0 last year, but the game was closer than the score, Sulik said.
“(The win) was more a result of our defense, which was absolutely dominant,” he said. “We know they’re 0-2, but we also know they’re hungry for a win.
“It’s a home game for them. We’re certainly not going to look past them. We just want to continue to get better and continue to play what we think our best brand of football is.”
