Trojans fall short in second-half rally against Jefferson
By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
The scoreboard Friday night showed a dominating second half for the East Troy High School football team.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, their big third and fourth quarters weren’t enough to overcome the first two.
Host Jefferson led 35-7 at halftime, and then held on for a 41-35 Rock Valley Conference victory. The win dropped the Trojans to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the RVC, while Jefferson improved to 4-0 and 2-0.
Despite seeing his team fall short in its comeback bid, East Troy coach Eric Sulik was pleased to see his team battle back from the big early deficit.
“I was impressed but not shocked that our players kept playing hard,” Sulik said. “I think they were very disappointed in how we played in the first half and wanted to prove they were better than they showed.”
Down 41-21 with 4:56 left, the Trojans put together a furious rally.
Quarterback Brandon Matz, who threw for 235 yards, connected on his third touchdown pass to Sam Eckert, a 26-yard strike, with 3:53 left to cut the deficit to 41-28.
The Trojans went back to work late in the fourth quarter and added another touchdown on an 8-yard run by Zack Lamb to pull to within six points at 41-35.
But that was as close as East Troy would come.
The opening half was all Jefferson – and the Eagles didn’t surprise anybody with how they built a 28-point lead.
“Jefferson’s ability to sustain drives and score in the first half (were the key),” Sulik said. “We only scored once in the first half and gave up too many big plays from them early.
“We didn’t execute well on defense and weren’t moving the ball on offense. Our players had a hard time blocking their defensive front in the first half.”
Jefferson built a 21-0 lead on touchdown runs of 60, 7 and 84 yards before the Trojans finally got on the scoreboard.
Matz and Eckert connected on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 3:08 left in the first half. After Olivia Healy added her first of five extra points, the Trojans trailed 21-7.
The Eagles struck twice more in the last 1:34, this time through the air, with touchdown passes of 78 and 33 yards to take a 35-7 lead into halftime.
Trojans rally back
Whatever was changed at halftime worked, as East Troy forged its furious rally to climb back into the game.
Sulik said the comeback began on defense.
“We were making stops on defense and forcing them into short drives,” he said. “It gave our players the confidence that we could get back into the ballgame, which we did.
“Our running game got going in the second half, which opened up our passing game.”
Matz and Eckert combined on a 22-yard touchdown pass with 5:04 left in the third quarter, followed by a 2-yard run by Charlie Kutschenreuter three minutes into the fourth quarter.
For the game, Matz completed 15 of 35 passing attempts for 235 yards. Kutschenreuter led the rushing attack with 68 yards on eight carries, followed by Lamb with 38 yards on 12 carries.
Eckert was the Trojans’ top receiver with six catches for 108 yards, followed by Cody Studt with six catches for 76 yards.
Jefferson again relied heavily on its running game, as it rolled up 392 yards on 44 carries.
“It is very tough to stop Jefferson’s running attack,” Sulik said. “They block very well, and their backs are hard runners. They play mistake-free football. They mixed in enough pass to make them very difficult to defend.”
McFarland next
East Troy looks to get back on track this week when it hosts McFarland in a 7 p.m. RVC contest. The Spartans fell to 2-2 overall with a 31-14 loss last week to Evansville-Albany.
Sulik said his team can’t afford to wait until it’s behind big to get going.
“(The) key this week is to put a full game together,” he said. “We haven’t done that since our second game (against Elkhorn). Our youth is growing up each week. Our seniors are hungry for a win.”
