A familiar foe is headed to C.F. Russell Stadium on Friday night as the Trenton Bulldogs play their home opener on alumni weekend.
Carrollton has graced Trenton’s schedule for years now and the old rivalry will be renewed in week two of the high school football season.
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A series Trenton has dominated over the years has swung in Carrollton’s direction in the past two seasons with the Trojans claiming two lop-sided victories. Trenton will look to regain control of the annual match-up this season, but to do so the Bulldogs must be able to stop a spread option offense that produced three touchdowns of at least 70 yards for the Trojans in week one against Blair Oaks.
“They are one of those teams you don’t want to get too wrapped up in all of the formations with,” Trenton Head Coach Wes Croy said. “They don’t run a whole lot of different plays, they just try and get you out of position with the different looks they throw at you. It’s really important this week that we line up correctly and that we always have an edge set to contain the ends. If we do that and stay sound alignment-wise, we should have a good chance to slow them down a little bit.”
Leading the Carrollton offense in week one was junior quarterback Darrian Owens, who has been in the program in previous years, but is a first-year starter at the quarterback position. Owens threw for 119 yards and a touchdown and ran for 86 yards and a touchdown in week one.
“He is a really talented athlete,” Croy said. “He is fast and we know he can run just from seeing him in track meets. He has been a part of the offense for a couple of years and he is taking over at quarterback this year. He is explosive and someone we definitely have to watch and account for and wrap up when we tackle.”
With Owens and Carrollton’s style of offense, Trenton will look for big games out of their outside linebackers, Dalton Triplet and James Fairchild, and stand-up defensive ends, Joe Mullany and Clay Oneal. Their play is key to containing Carrollton around the ends and in the flats, Carrollton’s bread and butter in the spread option.
The Bulldogs’ offense will be looking at a 5-2 front on the Carrollton defense, much like South Shelby presented in week one.
“They are kind of like what we saw last week in South Shelby,” Croy said. “That should help us, seeing the same look two weeks in a row. They will jump into a six-man front once in a while to give us different looks, but for the most part we are just going to have to be able to get off the ball and get where we need to be. I think it all comes down to how our offensive line plays, controlling their defensive line and giving our back some running room for four quarters. It’s a situation where our offensive linemen have to play all out every down to have success against their defensive front because they are big and they are talented.”
Coach Croy and his staff are optimistic coming in after a strong week in practice this week and a pretty solid effort in week one.
“We feel really good about the game coming up,” Croy said. “We like the way the kids played in week one and we like they way they have looked in practice this week. We feel like it should be a good match-up.”
Trenton will be at home on the field at C.F. Russell Stadium this Labor Day Weekend, which also marks alumni weekend in Trenton. Croy feels a home environment and a big crowd could factor into the game.
“We are just excited,” Croy said. “It’s always fun to play at home on alumni weekend. The years that we are able to open at home in front of a big crowd of alumni are always exciting. A lot of people who have played on this field will be here watching, so it is just an exciting time. Hopefully, we can bring the aura back to C.F. Russell Stadium that we had for five, six or seven years that was kind of lost last year. We want to let opponents know that coming in here it’s going to be tough to come away with a win and, more times than not, you’re going to leave disappointed.”
Trenton and Carrollton kick off from C.F. Russell Stadium in Trenton at 7 o’clock on Friday night.