For the second straight week, the Trenton High School Bulldogs football team scored 40 points and had the junior varsity doing clean-up duty on both offense and defense with nearly five minutes remaining in the game on Friday night.
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A couple of big returns by the Mid-Buchanan Dragons in the first half made things interesting for a quarter and a half, but as the game wore on, THS pulled away, beating the Dragons, 42-14.
Rolling Up 400 Yards
Trenton’s ground game racked up over 350 yards of rushing while the Bulldog passing attack gained just under 100 yards.
“Right now our offense is rollin’ along,” offensive guard Daniel Stokes said. “The offensive line is doing its best to get a body on a body and our running backs and receivers are doing their thing.”
Trenton finished the game with a pair of rushers topping the 100-yard mark. Junior DeAndre Vandevender led the way with 18 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown. His partner in the backfield, Scott Stevens, gained 141 yards on 21 carries and also had a touchdown.
“Having two backs gain 100 yards makes us very hard to defend,” Head Coach Wes Croy said. “DeAndre goes out every night and does his thing. Scotty is a great athlete, but he has had a little trouble getting going the last two weeks. We made a concerted effort to get him going and it paid off.”
Stevens opened the game’s scoring with a 25-yard run in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs added another dimension to their offense this fall. Senior quarterback Derek Miller has thrown for eight touchdowns in four games, including two on Friday against Mid-Buch.
“Offensively, we are really playing pretty well,” Croy said. “Our running game is on track and our passing game is taking advantage of what defenses are giving us.”
Another impressive note for Trenton’s running game is the way the offensive line dealt with Mid-Buchanan’s defensive pressure. The Dragons for most of the game tried in vain to stop the THS running attack.
“Many times they had eight and nine guys at the line of scrimmage,” Croy said. “We took advantage of that with our passing attack, but part of being a running team is running the ball even when the defense knows you are going to run.”
The Dragons did a nice job of denying the Bulldogs the middle of the field. Mid-Buchanan’s defensive line caused some trouble early for Trenton.
“They were pretty good on the defensive line,” Stokes said. “We had to make some adjustments, but I think we were more physical and as the game went on we began to wear them out.”
Containing Clinton
Heading into this week four match-up, the Bulldogs knew that containing quarterback Jayse Clinton would be the key. Trenton’s defense did a nice job of bottling up Mid-Buchanan’s quarterback, holding him to 0 yards rushing and 152 passing.
“We knew going into the game that we had to keep their quarterback from scrambling,” linebacker B.J. Golden said. “In the first half we didn’t get as much pressure on him as we would have liked, but we made some adjustments and played better in the second half.”
Clinton also showed why he is one of the better return men in the area in the first quarter, taking a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Clinton also returned two other kicks out past the 40-yard line.
“Clinton is a heck of a football player,” Croy said. “I thought we did a good job of containing him on defense, but I am disappointed in our kickoff coverage.”
The Dragons mounted a couple of drives, but committed three costly turnovers that killed promising chances.
“Defensively, I thought we played OK,” defensive coordinator Jon Adwell said. “We did a nice job of tackling and we came up with big plays when we had to have them. I thought we made some mistakes as far as assignments and we wanted to bring more pressure.”
Chaz Robbins rushed for 105 yards, but Trenton’s defense held the rest of the Dragons to a total of negative-five yards. Trenton’s secondary also held up pretty well against an onslaught of passing. The Dragons completed 18-of-27 passes for 152 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
“The defensive backs did a nice job of keeping everything in front of them,” Adwell said.
“It is hard on defensive backs when a team throws as much as Mid-Buch did,” Croy said. “They are going to make some plays in that style of offense with all the athletes Mid-Buch had. Our goal was not to give up any big plays and we did that for the most part.”
Physical Nature
For the fourth straight week the Bulldogs have outscored their opponent in the second half. Trenton has held a 63-13 advantage in the final two periods, even though the junior varsity has seen action in the fourth quarter of three of those games.
“We were more physical than (Mid-Buch),” Golden said. “Our defensive line is playing great, our defensive backs are not giving up big plays and that lets us linebackers just go out and do our thing. We are more comfortable with our defense this year and we just like to hit.”
The win improves to 4-0 overall and Trenton will head to Marceline on Friday night to play the 3-1 Tigers.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
First Quarter (13-7)
T – Scott Stevens, 25-yard run, (Aaron Lowrey kick).
MB – Jayse Clinton, 97-yard kickoff return, (Brody Riddle kick).
T – Evan Fries 17-yard pass from Derek Miller, (Lowrey kick).
Second Quarter (12-7)
T – Miller, 36-yard run, (run failed).
MB – Jesse Engelken, 14-yard pass from Clinton, (Riddle kick).
T – Logan Epperson, 4-yard pass from Miller (pass failed).
Third Quarter (6-0)
T – Miller, 1-yard run, (Lowrey kick blocked).
Fourth Quarter (10-0)
T – DeAndre Vandevender, 14-yard run (B.J. Golden run).
T – Evan Fries tackles Clinton in end zone for safety.
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TEAM STATISTICS
T MB
Rushes-yards 54-377 23-100
Passing Yds. 92 152
Comp-Att-Int 7-14-1 18-27-1
Total Yds. 469 252
Punts – avg. 0-0 2-37.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-2
Penalties-Yards 0-0 2-30
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, DeAndre Vandevender, 18-150 yards 1 TD; Scott Stevens, 21-148 1 TD; Derek Miller, 7-39 2 TD; Mason Hilsabeck, 5-18; B.J. Golden, 2-9; Logan Epperson, 1-13. Mid-Buchanan, Chaz Robbins, 14-105; Jayse Clinton, 7-0; Caleb Delaney, 2-(-5). Passing – Trenton, Miller, 7-14-1 92 yards, 2 TDs. Mid-Buchanan, Clinton, 18-27-1 152 yards 1 TD. RECEIVING — Trenton, Evan Fries 3-51 yards 1TD; Epperson, 3-24, 1 TD; Colton McGinness, 1-17. Mid-Buchanan, Engelken, 8-71, 1 TD; Delaney, 3-36; Robbins, 3-30; Adam Brewer, 2-10; Shane Andriano, 2-5.
INTERCEPTIONS – Trenton, Vandevender, 1-8. Mid-Buchanan, Clinton, 1-10.
Individual Defense – Trenton, DeAndre Vandevender, 6 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles, 1 tackle for a loss; B.J. Golden, 3 solo, six assisted, 1 for loss, 1 fumble recovery; Logan Wyant, 1 solo, 8 assisted, 1 fumble recovery; Daniel Stokes, 3 solo, 3 assisted, 2 for loss; Kyle Hoyt, 3 solo, 2 assisted, 1 for loss; Austin Thompson, 3 solo, 3 assisted; Logan Epperson, 2 solo, 3 assisted; Josh Lisle, 1 solo, 2 assisted, 2 for loss; Derek Miller, 2 solo, 2 assisted; Zach Kinnison, 4 assisted; Skyler Barron, 1 solo, 2 assisted; Jason Golden 2 solo, 1 assisted; Ethan Tabbert, 1 solo, 2 assisted; Brennen Ebersold, 2 assisted; Evan Fries, 1 solo, 1 assisted; Scott Stevens, 1 solo, Dylan Robinson, 1 assisted; Zach Peoples, 1 solo; Cree Beverlin, 1 assisted; Aaron Lowrey, 1 assisted.