Season off to a rough start with injured players
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
At first glance, it appears the East Troy High School football team struggled mightily in its non-conference contest Friday night at Elkhorn.
But as oftentimes happens, the final score doesn’t tell the whole story.
East Troy had its chances, but couldn’t capitalize in a 28-7 loss that dropped the Trojans to 0-2 overall. The game was shortened because of lightning and severe weather that rolled into the area after halftime.
The Elks weren’t the only challenge, as the injury bug hit East Troy last week and forced several new faces into the lineup.
Head coach Eric Sulik said the days leading up to the game were as difficult as any he had faced in his coaching career. Since its pre-season scrimmage two weeks ago, Sulik said 14 different starters were plugged into the lineup.
“In 17 years of coaching, I’ve never had a week even remotely close to this one,” he said. “I was hesitant to take a phone call or check my email because I was (thinking) it would be, ‘Now this person is going to be out.’
“Our kids persevered through. The game didn’t go the way we expected, but I was happy with how they fought. Defensively, we’re playing better, and offensively, we’ll get it going here.”
Elkhorn jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Trojans put their only touchdown on the scoreboard.
Quarterback Charlie Kutschenreuter connected on a 41-yard touchdown pass to Dan Balcerowski.
“Charlie made a really nice play, got outside the pocket and Dan was open,” Sulik said. “Dan is in his first year starting. I’m really proud of him. (They) made a nice play.”
Unfortunately for the Trojans, that was as close as they would come, as the Elks added two more touchdowns before the game was halted.
When both teams couldn’t agree when the game could be completed, Elkhorn was declared the winner – which was unfortunate, Sulik said, because he felt that his team still could rally.
“I know we were down 28-7, but just moments before, we dropped a touchdown pass, and it would have been 28-14,” he said. “I felt like the kids were playing better. In spite of a lot of challenges last week, I felt like our kids were playing hard.”
Kutschenreuter finished the game with three completions for 63 yards and 13 rushing attempts for 51 yards.
As a team, East Troy had 66 yards rushing on 20 attempts, while Elkhorn finished with 33 carries for 204 yards.
The Elks presented several challenges, Sulik said, namely their size up front.
“Elkhorn is definitely improved,” he said. “They’re a big team. I think they’re going to win more games than they lose the rest of the way.”
Sulik added that his team couldn’t match the Elks’ strength, which is an area where the Trojans need to improve.
“We’re not as strong as we need to be,” he said. “In some cases, it’s matter of age, and in some cases, it’s a matter of not getting it done (in the off-season). It shows at times.
“But in the same respect, I think the game was a lot closer than the score. … There were a lot more positives than negative after this game, that’s for sure.”
RVC opener Friday
Next up for the Trojans is their Rock Valley Conference opener Friday night at 7 p.m. against visiting Clinton. The Cougars fell to 0-2 with a 22-12 non-conference loss to North Boone (Ill.) last week.
But Sulik knows Clinton will present some challenges for his squad, and they need to be ready.
“Clinton is very good,” he said. “They have an outstanding quarterback. He’s definitely a threat. … They figure to have some decent-sized kids.
“They’re predicted to be very good this year. We’ll definitely have to play well in order to compete.”
