Team faces Parkview in Friday’s Homecoming game
By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
Through the early part of Friday night’s Rock Valley Conference contest at Edgerton, the East Troy High School football team did its best to hang with the Tide.
And after a touchdown in the second quarter, the Trojans were within just one score of getting back in the game.
But in the end, the Tide just had too much offensive firepower.
Edgerton scored five unanswered touchdowns between the second and third quarters to take control in a 63-26 victory. The loss dropped the Trojans to 1-3 in the RVC and 2-4 overall. Edgerton improved to 4-0 in conference and 5-1 overall.
“We really struggled defensively to stop their offensive attack,” East Troy coach Eric Sulik said. “It just wasn’t our night. We picked a really bad night to play probably the worst game of the season against the best team in the Rock Valley North. But we have to pick up the pieces and move on.”
Edgerton jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before the Trojans cut the deficit in half.
Brandon Matz, who completed 22 of 39 passes for 321 yards, connected on a 15-yard scoring strike to Charlie Kutschenreuter.
Kutschenreuter led the receiving corps with six catches for 108 yards, while Cody Studt caught four passes for 92 yards.
After Edgerton rebuilt its lead to two touchdowns before the end of the first quarter, the Matz-Kutschenreuter combination struck again, this time for a 26-yard score to pull with seven points at 21-14.
“Charlie did an outstanding job of open-field running, but I thought the blocking from our receivers made that play go,” Sulik said.
“It was a good play, a solid play. Charlie has really come on as an offensive threat. We always knew he was a good all-around football player, but this year, he’s really (also) shown a lot on the offensive side and had some pretty big games.”
But that was as close as the Trojans would come, as the Tide finally pulled away.
Edgerton scored three straight touchdowns before the end of the half, and then added two more in the third quarter to build its lead to 56-14.
“With the exception of the (scoring) drive right before half, it was just big plays (that hurt us),” Sulik said.
The Trojans added a pair of second-half touchdowns to close out the scoring. Zack Lamb, who rushed for 63 yards on 14 carries and caught four passes for 57 yards, scored on runs of 10 and 4 yards.
Edgerton was led by running back Ricky Williams, who carried 18 times for 304 yards (16.9 per attempt) and five touchdowns. Williams scored on runs of 15, 14, 19, 55 and 42 yards.
“I think he’s one of the best running backs in the state,” Sulik said. “The kid is fast. They really game plan well for him. But it wasn’t just him (that hurt us).”
Look to get back on track
East Troy looks to bounce back this week when it hosts Parkview in its annual Homecoming contest Friday night at 7 p.m.
The Vikings fell to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in conference play with a 26-21 loss last week to Beloit Turner. East Troy needs to win to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Sulik said his team isn’t looking past the next opponent on its schedule.
“(What they’ve done) really doesn’t matter,” Sulik said. “I think we’ve learned our lesson from a couple weeks ago against Palmyra.
“I really feel like we can put together a streak now, and I’m hoping we can. One of our goals was to make the playoffs this year. We just have to continue to get better every day.”
