Football team shuts out Brodhead-Juda
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Wet weather conditions Friday night forced East Troy football coach Jeff Crandall to change his team’s strategy in its season finale at Brodhead-Juda.
But when passing became impossible, the Trojans just turned to their ground game – and in the process, ran the Cardinals right off their home field.
East Troy attempted just two passes, but rushed for 380 yards in a dominating 34-0 Rock Valley Conference victory that punched the Trojans’ ticket to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 playoffs for the third straight season later this week.
The Trojans closed the regular season at 5-4. East Troy received the seventh seed in its regional grouping and travels to defending state champion and second seeded Waukesha Catholic Memorial on Friday night.
Crandall was pleased with his team’s effort against Brodhead.
“Our guys played the best game of the season,” he said. “Our players did a great job of executing our game plan and playing with intensity all game.”
Crandall added that he and his coaches liked what they saw during practices leading up the game – so they weren’t entirely surprised how well things clicked Friday.
“Our effort was outstanding all week in practice leading up to the game,” he said. “We as coaches knew how close we were to putting a complete game together, and it happened on Friday, which was great to see.”
East Troy scored one touchdown in each of the first three quarters before it blew the game open with a 21-point outburst in the fourth.
Dylan Jakscht, who rushed 21 times for 78 yards, scored on runs of 2, 1 and 13 yards, while quarterback Jake Dessart, who piled up 302 yards on 26 attempts, had touchdowns of 46 and 9 yards.
“Jake and Dylan are very talented runners,” Crandall said. “They do a great job and running hard and not going down on first contact. Our (offensive) line has been outstanding all year. This week, they did a great job opening holes.”
While the running game was dominating on that side of the ball, the defense was pitching a shutout and holding the Cardinals to less than 160 total yards.
Leading the charge, Crandall said, were Chase Coleman and Zach Burke – but it definitely was a group effort.
“Our defense played great as a unit,” he said. “They have been getting better and better each week, and everything was clicking for them on Friday.”
It’s playoff time
East Troy turns its attention to Catholic Memorial, which will provide a huge challenge for the Trojans.
The Crusaders posted a 7-2 record in the highly competitive Classic 8 Conference. Catholic Memorial is led by junior running back Tate Kopulos, who rushed for 1,412 yards and 14 touchdowns during the regular season.
“(They are) a really good team,” Crandall said. “Early film studies show they are solid in all phases of the game.”
But regardless of the talent on the other side of the field, the Trojans plan to approach the game the same way they have all season, Crandall said.
“We have been attacking this game like every game this year,” he said. “(We) work hard every day to get better and be ready to bring intensity to the game on Friday.”
Tonight’s winner faces either third-seeded Mount Horeb/Barneveld or sixth-seeded Evansville/Albany in the second round.
