Four quarters weren’t enough to determine a winner on Friday night, but when the dust settled after the first overtime period, the Trenton Bulldogs had a 34-28 win over the West Platte Blue Jays and their vaunted passing game.
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The story of the night going into the game was Blue Jay’ quarterback Luke Wetzel, who had thrown for over 1,000 yards in the first four weeks of the season while leading West Platte to a number-eight state ranking in the Class 1 poll. Wetzel got his yards, throwing for 268 and two touchdowns on 34 attempts, but Trenton’s defense picked off the senior twice and kept the Blue Jays from lighting up the scoreboard too much.
“We talked before the game with our defensive backs and, as well as people throw the ball now a days, and you see this on Saturdays and Sundays, it’s impossible to absolutely shut somebody down,” Trenton Head Coach Wes Croy said. “We just told our kids they were going to make some plays, they were going to complete some big passes over the top of them and we had to have short memories as defensive backs and come back and make the next play. I thought our kids were pretty resilient back there. We made some mistakes, but we also picked off a couple of passes and made some big defensive plays when we had to. So, overall, I thought even though we gave up quite a few yards, the secondary did a good job of keeping their head in the game.”
Helping out the secondary was a good effort up front for the Bulldogs. Trenton was able to get pressure on Wetzel with linebacker blitzes and good pressure on the ends by Clay Oneal and Dillon Triplet. The Bulldogs sacked Wetzel four times and pressured him into some errant throws.
“The fact that we were able to get so much pressure with our linebackers and defensive linemen really allowed us to at least slow down their passing game some,” Croy said. “That was a big help.”
West Platte struck first in the game, scoring on a one-yard quarterback sneak by Wetzel. Trenton would answer, however, with two touchdown runs of two yards by Keegan McGinness, one in the first quarter and one in the second.
“We were really disappointed when they scored because we had an opportunity to get a stop on that drive and just didn’t do it,” Croy said. “I thought our kids did a good job of coming back and gaining confidence; of course we did it running the football.
Trenton finished the game with 240 yards, all on the ground. The Bulldogs threw just six passes, three by quarterback Jacob Spillman and three by McGinness, none of which were completed.
“We still aren’t throwing the ball like we need to be, “ Croy said. “Right now we are a ground-based team, but we know we have to get more varied as the year goes on. I thought our kids up front did a good job getting off the ball, though, and getting some movement against some pretty good defensive linemen. The backs ran hard, Jake (Spillman) made some good decisions and we were able to get the score tied up. And then the score at the end of the half on the pitch to Keegan was huge. Going up 14-7 going into the locker room gave us a lot of confidence going in to the second half.”
In the second half, things got wild as the two teams traded blows. West Platte scored on the ground again to tie things up at 14-14, but Trenton responded early in the fourth with a 21-yard run by Oneal to regain the lead. Seth Acton’s third extra-point would be a big one as West Platte would miss its point-after kick on the following score to leave Trenton with a 21-20 lead. West Platte scored again after a fumbled kickoff return and converted on the two-point try to grab a 28-21 lead. As time began to slip away, Trenton drove down the field, tying the game yet again on Oneal’s second touchdown run of the night. Each team had one more possession but neither scored, marking Trenton’s first trip to overtime under Croy.
The Bulldogs won the toss and elected to play defense first, where they recorded a stop with back-to-back sacks on third and fourth downs. Trenton then put the ball in the end zone for the win on a two-yard run by Oneal, his third touchdown run of the night.
“This was the first time since I have been at Trenton that we have been involved in an overtime game, so it was a new experience for our kids,” Croy said. “They dealt with it really well. Fortunately, we won the toss and were able to play defense first and were able to get a stop. We knew exactly what we needed to do and the kids were able to execute and get in and win a good ballgame over a good football team.”
The win moved Trenton above .500 for the first time all season, improving its season record to 3-2. The win also bucked the trend the Bulldogs had developed of coming out flat every other game.
“Now we have to prove we can handle success,” Croy said. “We have to continue to perform well and practice well and prepare well after winning a big game. This week is very important for us. Lexington comes to town and they are a good team and they have had our number the last couple of years. There is homecoming and all that comes with that and we can’t let that be a distraction to us. We have to go out and do what we need to get better and, hopefully, come out and perform well on Friday night against another good football team.”
Trenton will be back at C.F. Russell Stadium for the first time since week one. Trenton and Lexington kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday in the Bulldogs’ annual homecoming game.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
First Quarter
WP – Luke Wetzel 1-yard run (Jack Callahan kick)
T – Keegan McGinness 2-yard run (Seth Acton kick)
Second Quarter
T – Keegan McGinness 2-yard run (Acton kick)
Third Quarter
WP – Dylan Guthrie 18-yard run (Callahan kick)
Fourth Quarter
T – Clay Oneal 21-yard run (Acton kick)
WP – Brandon Searcy 29-yard pass from Wetzel (kick failed)
WP – Adam Roe 13-yard pass from Wetzel (Searcy pass from Wetzel)
T – Oneal 2-yard run (Acton kick)
Overtime
T – Oneal 2-yard run (Acton kick)
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TEAM STATISTICS
THS WPHS
First downs 12 14
Rushes-yards 49-240 38-94
Passing Yds. 0 268
Comp-Att-Int 0-6-0 18-34-2
Total Yds. 240 362
Penalties-yards 2-30 3-15
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, Clay Oneal, 17-88; Keegan McGinness, 14-84; Jacob Spillman, 15-54; Dillon Triplet, 3-14. West Platte, Dylan Guthrie, 25-59; Luke Wetzel, 12-26; Colton Goodlet, 1-9.
PASSING – Trenton, Spillman, 0-3-0; McGinness, 0-3-0. West Platte, Wetzel, 18-34-2, 268 yards, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING — Trenton, none. West Platte, Adam Roe, 8-159; Brandon Searcy, 7-67; Seth Rulon, 1-31; Guthrie 2-11.
INTERCEPTIONS – Trenton, Tyler Gray, 1-20; Colby Larson, 1-8. West Platte, none.
PUNTING – Trenton, Vandevender, 5-172, 34.4 avg. West Platte, Wetzel, 1-37, 37 avg.
DEFENSE – Trenton, Freddie Pannell, 14 tackles, 4 TFL, 2 sacks; Morgan Schelker, 10 tackles, 1 TFL; Oneal, 8 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 sack; James Fairchild, 8 tackles, 1 TFL; Dalton Burkeybile, 8 tackles, 1 TFL; Tommy Kincaid, 7 tackles, 1 TFL; Triplet, 6 tackles, 1 TFL; Tyler Carpenter, 6 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack; Larson, 4 tackles, 1 int.; Jacob Meservey, 2 tackles; Gray, 2 tackles, 1 int.; Austin Taul, 1 tackle; Seth Acton, 1 tackle; Josh Davis, 1 tackle.