Trojans remain winless for the season
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
There are very few secrets when it comes to how the Elkhorn football team wants to attack its opponents.
The Elks are going to run straight ahead – again and again.
And that’s just what they did Friday night, thanks to 294 yards combined from running backs Konnor Mohr and Ryan Shilts in a 28-7 non-conference win at East Troy.
The loss dropped the Trojans to 0-2 overall.
“Elkhorn did a great job executing their game plan,” East Troy coach Eric Sulik said. “Their defense kept us out of the end zone, and we did not make enough stops on defense in the second quarter.
“We did a great job containing them except for two possessions in the second quarter.”
Mohr scored on first-quarter runs of 68, 5 and 34 yards to give the Elks a 22-0 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, East Troy struck for its only score of the night.
Quarterback Nick Ruffalo connected on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Mason Malzahn. Noah Nyffler converted the extra point to give the Trojans their only points.
“Nick’s ball was thrown over two Elkhorn defenders, about 35 yards in the air,” Sulik said. “I couldn’t have been more proud of Mason’s catch. He quietly improves every day at practice.”
Elkhorn closed out the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 40-yard touchdown run by Shilts.
For the game, Ruffalo completed 12 of 32 passes for 139 yards, while Ryan Olsen led the rushing attack with 156 yards on 26 carries. Truman Kent had four catches for 35 yards, followed by Jake Remsza and Jake Nixon with two catches each and 18 and 26 yards, respectively. Mohr had 174 yards rushing for Elkhorn, while Shilts rushed for 120.
The Elks had 385 yards on the ground on 53 attempts.
Despite the loss, Sulik said there were positives to build on.
“Elkhorn did a lot to keep us out of the end zone, but we had 11 dropped passes,” he said. “We get one or two of those drops back in the second quarter, and the outcome might have been different.
“Defensively, minus the two big touchdown runs, we are right there. Our defense is getting better each week.”
East Troy opens Rock Valley Conference play Friday when it travels to Evansville-Albany, which improved to 2-0 with a 14-12 win over Brodhead-Juda last week.
Sulik knows his team has a tough challenge.
“Evansville-Albany is big and they bring a lot of experience back from last season,” he said. “They return their quarterback and have an excellent tight end and running back. There is a good reason they are favored to win the RVC North.”
Sulik added he’s looking for his team to build from its fast start against Delavan-Darien in the opener – but also to put solid efforts together on both sides of the football.
“What I think we are finding out is that our team is pretty good, but we need to have both sides of the ball clicking for us to pull off wins,” he said. “We are not going to win games solely offensively or defensively. It needs to come from both sides.”
