Coach says fatigue a factor in last week’s loss
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A battle of attrition presented itself Friday night in East Troy’s Rock Valley Conference football opener at Evansville-Albany.
And it was one the Trojans just couldn’t finish – no matter how hard they tried.
East Troy ran out of gas, and the hosts were right there to take advantage with 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter en route to a 50-23 victory.
The loss dropped the Trojans to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the RVC.
It wasn’t difficult to find a turning point, East Troy coach Eric Sulik said.
“Evansville-Albany is fortunate to have a number of players who are able to go as one-way starters,” Sulik said. “We are not as fortunate with our depth.
“The score was only 28-23 heading into the fourth quarter, but fatigue became an issue. We couldn’t finish like we hoped.”
Down to reserves in several spots, the Trojans couldn’t keep up with Evansville during the last 12 minutes, Sulik said.
“The last two scores came against a lot of second- and third-string players,” he said. “Our defense has to defend a lot of short field due to offensive issues giving us poor field position.”
East Troy again racked up some impressive offensive numbers Friday night.
Quarterback Nick Ruffalo completed 14 of 29 passing attempts with two touchdowns for 290 yards, including five to Jake Remsza, who finished with 189 yards and a touchdown.
The rushing attack was led by Ryan Olsen’s 23 carries for 112 yards. Owen Goedland and Noah Nyffler each caught a pass for a score, while Jordan Roby added two receptions for 49 yards.
But there’s still work to do, especially in the red zone, Sulik said.
“Our offense as put some good numbers (except against Elkhorn) thus far this season,” he said. “Remsza has put up some nice numbers (as well).
“However, we have a long way to go in short-yardage situations. We had the ball on Evansville’s 1-yard line twice and only came away with three points. Time of possession was a big issue in the second half. Our defense was out on the field way too much.”
The bottom line, Sulik said, is his team needs to string together four solid quarters of football for it to be successful.
To this point, the Trojans have been strong in some moments, but not consistently enough, he said.
“Finishing games has played a huge role in two of our three losses,” Sulik said. “Our lack of depth in positions has shown up.
“We were out our starting center and a starting defensive lineman (against Evansville). However, we are discovering that we need to play a complete game to win. Our defense, nor is our offense, good enough to carry us. We need to be firing on all cylinders.”
At home tonight
East Troy will seek to break into the victory column tonight when it hosts Jefferson in a 7 p.m. RVC contest.
The Eagles beat Edgerton last week 38-14 to improve to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
“Jefferson is a well-coached and disciplined team,” Sulik said. “They will be ready to play on Friday night.”
The keys to success aren’t complicated, Sulik said.
“(We need) a fast start, but (need to) finish the game,” he said. “We want to establish our running game early.
“If we can get them to drive most of the field, they have shown some issues with fumbling the ball. I feel our offense is primed for a big night, and I believe our defense will defend their running attack.”
