The Trenton Bulldogs football season is winding down. With only two weeks left until district play begins, Trenton has an opportunity on Friday night when Class 4 Kirksville comes to C.F. Russell Stadium to face the Bulldogs.
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Trenton will get 20 bonus points, 10 for each class level they are playing up. If Trenton can pull off the upset of the much larger school (Kirksville’s high school enrollment is 780 compared to Trenton’s 397), they will receive an additional 20 points, plus one point for every point they beat the Tigers by up to 13.
“It’s a big bonus when you are playing a school that is bigger than you,” Trenton Head Coach Wes Croy said. “You have an opportunity to really help yourself out, especially if you get a win. That is what the most important thing is right now. Not the size of the school or any other part of the equasion. The big thing for us right now is just trying to win a game on Friday night against Kirksville. That said, it could be a big boost for us in the district standings. Right now we are fifth and Lexington is right behind us in sixth. They could jump us in a situation where we finish back-to-back because they beat us head-to-head. So, it’s just important for us to win out and if we do that, who knows where we end up win-wise, but it gives us a better shot to have a better game in week 10 as far as who the opponent is going to be.”
First thing is, however, Trenton has to find a way to beat a Class 4 team that has been pretty solid despite having a 3-4 record. Kirksville’s losses have all come against tough competition and large schools such as Moberly, Marshall, Hannibal and Boonville.
“They have played some big schools and some good schools,” Croy said. “I think Southern Boone is the smallest school they have played and they are Class 3. Then they played Chillicothe and, other than those two games, they have played all Class 4 schools. They have played a tough schedule and the NCMC is a good conference. There are some good teams in there and they are coming to our place well seasoned.”
Kirksville will bring a lot of speed to C.F. Russell on Friday night, as is to be expected from a school of its size. Trenton saw a quick team last week in Illini West and struggled at times with the Chargers’ speed. Croy points out that seeing the Chargers, however, will better prepare the Bulldogs for Kirksville.
“We are concerned about the speed of the game that they play,” Croy said. “Playing Illini West last week will definitely help us out in that regard, but still, playing a bigger school like this, the pace that they play the game is something we are going to have to adjust to early on.”
Kirksville’s offense is not one Trenton will be able to stop simply by taking away one aspect. The Tigers can do multiple things offensively, whether that be running, throwing long or throwing screens. The Bulldogs will need to be prepared for anything when they take the field against the Tigers.
“Honestly we have seen them do a little bit of everything,” Croy said. “They have run the ball downhill against some teams and been in the I-formation and other times their quarterback is in the pistol or the shotgun and they are running a lot of horizontal plays, jet sweeps and bubble screens. They throw adequately and they have a good quarterback and some good running backs. They seem to possess good team speed and size, so it really just depends on where they think they can exploit us and it wouldn’t shock me at all if they come out and try to run the ball downhill because that’s what Illini West had success with last week.”
Defensively, the Tigers will be in a 4-3 set, something Trenton has seen already at this point in the season.
“The big thing for us right now is we have kind of had an inconsistent lineup as far as a couple of our spots. We have had two or three kids at the quick tackle spot through the first seven weeks. We have been pretty consistent at the other four offensive line spots. though so, hopefully, that group of kids has seen what they have needed to see and can adjust to it. We are going to have to make some calls up front, but it’s week eight and we have seen about everything we could see at this point. At this point, it is just about getting off the ball well and getting the job done.”
Trenton’s offense will look to attack Kirksville with their ground game as they do every week, but who will be behind quarterback Jacob Spillman remains to be seen. Running back Dillon Triplet suffered an ankle injury in last week’s match-up with Illini West, which limited him to just three carries in the game. Triplet will be a game time decision and if he can’t go, look for Colton Neff, who returns this week from a knee injury, and Mason Mounce, who was Trenton’s leading rusher last week, to see carries. Austin Taul will be in the lineup as he has been all season and will be Trenton’s go-to back if Triplet is out.
“Right now if Trip can go, he will start,” Croy said. “It’s kind of up in the air at this point. I would say at practice Wednesday night he was probably 50 to 60 percent. We will see if he improves over the next couple of days, but if he can’t go, Neff is healthy and he can play. Mounce had a nice game last week and Austin Taul has been solid for us all year. We get Chanse Houghton back this week, too, so we will be okay at the running back position, no matter who plays.”
Friday night will be senior night for the Bulldogs and, if at all possible, Triplet will be in the starting lineup.
“It’s senior night and Trip is a senior, so hopefully he can get in there and play,” Croy said. “We have talked to him about it, though, and if he isn’t able to perform at the level he is capable of we will put in one of those other guys.”
Also worth noting for Friday night’s game is senior wideout Colby Larson. Larson grabbed a career-high eight passes last week, pushing his career receptions total to 28, just five catches away from cracking the top five on Trenton High School’s all-time receptions list. A five catch night would tie Larson with Steve Burchett, who is currently fifth on the list with 33 career receptions.
Last week Trenton fans got to see quarterback Jacob Spillman move into the top five on the school’s all-time passing list. Spillman threw for 69 yards in the loss to Illini West, moving his career total to 860, six yards more than John Hamilton amassed in his career. With 85 more passing yards on Friday night, Spillman would pass Zach Vandevender for fourth on the all-time passing list.
Kickoff from C.F. Russell Stadium is set for 7 p.m. A pre-game tailgate sponsored by Hy-Vee will be held at Eastside Park prior to the game. The tailgate begins at 5 p.m. with proceeds going to the quarterback club and band boosters.