The Trenton Bulldogs never quit on Friday night. Despite trailing by 14 points on three separate occasions, Trenton never quit.
The Bulldogs weathered LeBlond’s best effort at an upset bid, closed the game with 21 unanswered points and wound up with a 34-27 victory in the Class 2, District 16 opener at C.F. Russell Stadium.
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“It’s not an ideal situation to be in by any means, but we put ourselves in position to be down like that in the second half,” Trenton Head Coach Wes Croy said. “We have been in that situation before. We were down against Lexington and we came back, we were down at West Platte and we came back, so our kids never lost confidence that they could do it.”
LeBlond took the opening drive down the field and punched the ball in the end zone on a 28-yard pass from quarterback Mathew McCullough to Patrick Dillon. After Trenton fumbled the ensuing kickoff, LeBlond scored again on an Austin Dawkins run of three-yards, putting the Bulldogs down 14-0 before their offense ever got on the field.
“I was concerned with how we were going to react to (going down two scores early), but there was a lot of game left,” Croy said. “The biggest thing is to just keep doing what you’re capable of doing well and don’t panic. Our kids have belief in that right now and they understand we don’t strike quickly, but we can wear people down and they just kept trying to execute what our game plan was. This late in the season you never know what situation you will be in and this one just gave us some more experience that we will be able to build positively on down the road.”
Trenton responded well, driving the ball down field on a drive that ate up the remaining clock in the first quarter and a portion of the second quarter. Trenton converted three fourth-down conversions on the drive and finished the game five-for-five on fourth down attempts. Clay Oneal capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run and cut the Golden Eagle lead in half, 14-7.
LeBlond wasn’t done scoring in the half, however, tacking on one more touchdown to lead 21-7 at the break.
Trenton turned things around in the second half, driving down for a touchdown on the first drive out of the locker room. But a rare missed extra-point attempt kept LeBlond’s lead at 21-13. The Golden Eagles would again go back up by 14 points on their first drive of the half, scoring on a Dawkins 15-yard run. LeBlond missed the extra-point kick as well, keeping the lead at just 14 points.
Down 27-13 with time ticking away in the third quarter, the Bulldogs responded just as they had done against West Platte and Lexington. Trenton closed the third quarter with a touchdown by Keegan McGinness on a run of 39 yards. In the fourth quarter Trenton had all the momentum. The Bulldogs turned LeBlond’s third fumble of the game into another touchdown, this one on a one-yard run by Oneal, his second of the game. That score tied the game at 27-27, the first time the team had been even since the 0-0 score at the start of the game.
Fred Pannell came up with a huge sack on LeBlond’s next possession and a penalty had the Golden Eagles punting out of their own end zone. With a short field to work with, Trenton continued to march easily through a tiring LeBlond defense. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game with the final score of the night, a 26-yard run by McGinness, his second score.
“It was all about the front line,” Oneal said of the tying and go-ahead drives. “(In) the fourth quarter this year we have been doing great things and I can’t thank the guys up front enough. They are workhorses.”
LeBlond had the ball back with little time left in the game, but started to make a drive and crossed midfield. Pannell again came to the Bulldogs’ aid, picking up a huge tackle for loss on an attempt at a reverse by the Golden Eagles. Pannell finished the game tied for the team lead in tackles with 11 and had two tackles for loss and a sack.
“We sent Fred on a run blitz both times and Coach (Jon Adwell) did a good job of picking his spots where he wanted to send him,” Croy said. “He did a really good job finishing the play once he got in there. The play on the reverse was really big and then, of course, the sack was really big for us as well. He has made big plays for us all year defensively and you get him moving and he can cause some big problems for opposing team’s offenses. I was really pleased he was able to make a couple of plays when we needed him.”
After a penalty, LeBlond was faced with a fourth and 33 with 31 seconds left and could not convert, ending the game and giving Trenton the district victory.
LeBlond outgained the Bulldogs on the night, 362 to 338, and Dawkins finished the game with 262 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries. In the fourth quarter, however, Dawkins was limited to just 36 yards, his lowest quarter total of the game.
“I thought Coach Adwell did a really good job of making adjustments at halftime,” Croy said. “He was able to get our linebackers to understand that they had to stay home for the cut backs because that was what was really hurting us in the first half. In the second half the linebackers stayed home and that was really the key to slowing (Dawkins) down.”
For Trenton, McGinness led the way on the ground, rushing for 156 yards on 18 carries. Oneal added 95 yards on 19 carries and Spillman ran the ball 18 times for 81 yards.
“I thought our offensive line did a good job working against their defensive front,” Croy said. “Clay ran hard, Spillman had a great game running the ball from the quarterback position and Keegan had the big runs that kind of broke it open. It was a team effort and as disappointed as we were with how our offensive line did against Higginsville, we are that proud of them this week. They took control of the game in the second half and allowed us to do what we wanted offensively.”
With the win, Trenton moved to 5-3 on the season and, more importantly, established a 1-0 record in Class 2, District 16 play. The win also sets up a showdown with Hamilton, who also established a 1-0 record in the district with a 49-6 victory over Plattsburg. Hamilton is now 8-0 on the season and has now won 38-straight games.
“Hamilton is a great team that has won 37 or 38 games in a row and they are the two-time defending state champions,” Croy said. “Until somebody beats them they are still the best in the state of Missouri and we get our shot at them this week. Our kids and our staff are going to prepare hard and we are going to go into the game with every thought of going over and pulling off the upset. It won’t be an easy task because they are so well coached and they are such a good football team, but we are excited about the opportunity to go play a good football team and, hopefully, we can make it competitive and get it to come down to maybe one drive in the fourth quarter and if it does that, with our experience in that situation, hopefully it pays off for us.”
The Bulldogs and Hornets will kick off in Hamilton Friday night at 7 o’clock.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
First Quarter
L – Patrick Dillon 28-yard pass from Mathew McCullough (Chuckie Kempf kick)
L – Austin Dawkins 3-yard run (Kempf kick)
Second Quarter
T – Clay Oneal 1-yard run (Seth Acton kick)
L – Dawkins 15-yard run (Kempf kick)
Third Quarter
T – Jacob Spillman 13-yard run (kick failed)
L – Dawkins 15-yard run (kick failed)
T – Keegan McGinness 39-yard run (Acton kick)
Fourth Quarter
T – Oneal 1-yard run (Acton kick)
T – McGinness 26-yard run (Acton kick)
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TEAM STATISTICS
THS LHS
First downs 16 15
Rushes-yards 55-332 39-267
Passing Yds. 6 95
Comp-Att-Int 1-5-0 8-17-0
Total Yds. 338 362
Penalties-yards 1-5 3-25
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, Keegan McGinness, 18-156; Clay Oneal, 19-95; Jacob Spillman, 18-81. LeBlond, Austin Dawkins, 35-262; Mathew McCullough, 3-11; Patrick Dillon, 1-(-6).
PASSING – Trenton, Spillman, 1-5-0, 6 yards. LeBlond, McCullough, 8-17-0, 95 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING — Trenton, Colby Larson, 1-6. LeBlond, Dillon, 2-47; Chuckie Kempf, 3-38; Tyler Thrasher, 1-8; Conner Haynes, 1-6; Dawkins, 1-(-4).
INTERCEPTIONS – Trenton, none. LeBlond, none.
PUNTING – Trenton, Vandevender, 3-125, 41.67 avg. LeBlond, Dawkins, 2-91, 45.5 avg.
KICK RETURNS – Trenton, McGinness, 2-29; Dillon Triplet, 2-16; James Fairchild, 1-13.
PUNT RETURNS – Trenton, McGinness, 2-17.
DEFENSE – Trenton, Fred Pannell, 11 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack; Fairchild, 11 tackles, 1 TFL; Dalton Burkeybile, 10 tackles; Morgan Schelker, 7 tackles, 1 fumble recovery; Oneal, 6 tackles, 1 TFL; Triplet, 5 tackles, 1 fumble recovery; Larson, 5 tackles; Dakota Galvin, 4 tackles; Tyler Gray, 4 tackles; Tyler Carpenter, 4 tackles; Tommy Kincaid, 3 tackles; Austin Taul, 2 tackles; Wilson Utley, 1 tackle; Josh Davis, 1 tackle.