Football team posts 20-0 win in season opener
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The East Troy High School football team got its 2018 season off to a running start Friday night.
Actually, it was more like a sprint.
East Troy rolled up 387 yards rushing on 59 carries and blanked two-time defending Rock Valley Conference champion Clinton, 20-0, in what could be seen as an early-season statement that the Trojans will be a team to be reckoned with.
“Our kids competed great on Friday,” East Troy coach Jeff Crandall said. “Our guys on defense were working hard to keep the shutout. It was a great team win.”
East Troy threw for just 21 yards in the game, but with nearly 400 yards on the ground, there was really no need to air things out.
Behind the offensive line of Matt Kisting, Ethan Ewald, John Marschke, Logan Robers and Noah Bearce, the Trojans’ dual running threat of quarterback Jake Dessart and Dylan Jakscht combined for 356 yards rushing on 51 carries and all three East Troy touchdowns.
Dessart had 25 carries for 182 yards and a score, while Jakscht rushed 26 times for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
“When you have a QB who is as much a threat to run as pass, it is a nice weapon to have,” Crandall said. “Our offensive line improved as the night went on, allowing our backs to pick up chunks of yardage. Dylan was running hard and broke a bunch of tackles.”
Crandall said he expects the passing game to continue to develop as the season moves along.
“We really wanted to work on being physical and running the ball (Friday),” he said. “We were able to get a bunch of work on that, which was great.
“Moving forward, the passing game will need to be a larger part of what we do for us to have continue to have success.”
Dessart broke a scoreless tie with an 18-yard touchdown run with 4:09 left in the opening quarter to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead at halftime.
From there, Jakscht got into the act – twice – with touchdown runs of 1 and 5 yards in the third and fourth quarters to seal the victory.
Crandall was pleased with his team’s defensive effort, which held the Cougars to just 118 total yards – all on the ground.
“The defense played assignment-sound football and created a number of turnovers (four),” he said. “We had good flow and hard, physical play at the line of scrimmage.”
On the road again
Next up is another road game for the Trojans on Friday night, as they travel to Whitewater tonight for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Whippets.
Whitewater opened its season with a 56-7 RVC loss to Beloit Turner last week.
The focus from Crandall’s perspective remains on what his team is doing and not as much on the opponent.
“We are focusing on correcting the little things this week,” Crandall said. “We want all our players to play physical and fast and continue to improve each day.”
