TIGERS TAMED

Trenton Jumps In Standings After 33-8 Win

It has been a long chase.
For weeks, the Trenton High School football team has been chasing LeBlond in the Class 2, District 8 standings, pining for the fourth seed and the final spot that gets to host a district game. Trenton has never hosted a district playoff game since MSHSAA switched to the current format prior to the 2012 season. That was a goal set for this year’s team at the start of the season. After four straight wins coupled with five-straight LeBlond losses, the Bulldogs are in position to do just that.
On Friday night in Kirksville, Trenton kept the Tigers out of the win column, taking a 33-8 victory over the Class 4 school. With the win, and bonus points for playing up two class sizes, Trenton at long last jumped LeBlond in the standings. LeBlond, also playing up two class sizes against St. Joseph Lafayette, lost 42-14, helping Trenton to jump into the fourth spot.
“We took care of business and we beat the big schools like we had to,” Trenton Head Coach Brandon Boswell said. “Not only did we beat Kirksville, but we beat them by over 13 points, so we will get some extra bonus points for that. We’re just hoping we get some help in some other places so we can finish next week against Concordia and have a chance to host a district game in front of our great fans in Trenton.”
The Kirksville Tigers didn’t pose too much of a threat to Trenton as the Bulldogs thoroughly dominated the larger school on both sides of the ball, leading to a comfortable 25-point victory. Trenton’s defense set the tone as Colton Neff picked up a sack on the first play from scrimmage of the ballgame. After a tackle for loss and a minimal Kirksville completion, the Tigers were forced to punt. Trenton steam-rolled down the field before turning the ball over on downs at the five-yard line, but the defense was its old self on this night. Trenton shut down everything Kirksville threw at them and on the first play of the second quarter Jonathan Lamp intercepted a Tiger pass and raced 36 yards for the game’s first score.
Breaking through with the defensive score opened up the Trenton offense, which put the ball in the end zone twice more before halftime. The first came on a 45-yard run by Kail McCarter and the second on a 22-yard pass from McCarter to Cree Mullenix – one that was perhaps the play of the game.
McCarter hit Mullenix on a slant route that scored, but a Trenton penalty negated the play. The Bulldogs went right back to the well, this time McCarter just lofted a jump ball to Mullenix, who went up and pulled in the touchdown at the pylon in the front corner of the end zone, giving Trenton a 19-0 halftime lead.
“That is the athlete Cree is,” Boswell said of the play. “Obviously having the basketball background helps with that. He brought it in with one arm, I mean he just snatched it like that. He caught the previous play and we were offsides. He ran the quick slant and they didn’t have it covered. Then they saw that and made the adjustment, so we just countered. Thankfully it didn’t hurt us, but, man, he made an amazing catch. Cree is a great athlete, but he is also a great kid.”
McCarter and Mullenix hooked up again early in the third quarter on a 38-yard pass play for a touchdown. After Kirksville scored what would be their only points of the night on a 62-yard pass and subsequent two-point conversion, Jonathan Lamp capped the scoring with a nine-yard run. No points were scored in the fourth quarter by either squad as Trenton ground out the victory, it’s sixth of the season. The wins in each of the past four weeks now have the Bulldogs sitting at 6-2 overall on the season.
“It’s exciting, you know,” Boswell said. “I think all the credit really goes to our kids. They are believing in what we are doing and when you are winning you have confidence. Ultimately though, it is our kids executing what we do. Coaches can put great game plans together, but you have to have the kids believe in it and execute it. We have that right now and things are just going our way.”
The Bulldogs ran all over Kirksville, finishing the night with 292 rushing yards. Neff led the way with 94 yards, McCarter added 92, Leeper had 37, Austin Burkeybile ran for 28, Lamp added 25 and Logan Shuler rounded out the attack with 16 as the Bulldogs offensive line punched some big holes in the Kirksville defensive front.
“Our guys up front are outstanding,” Boswell said. “We had six guys contributing with rushing yards so there is some distribution there. That shows how lethal we are in terms of having all of that talent in the backfield. Ultimately that doesn’t happen without our offensive line, though. Games are won in the trenches and our guys definitely took care of business tonight. I am really proud of those guys.”
As good as Trenton’s offense was, the defense may have been better – again. Trenton allowed just eight points and 143 total yards to Kirksville. In the past four weeks, Trenton has yielded just 30 points, an average of 7.5 points per game. Sixteen of those 30 points came against Trenton’s second and third string defenses in the fourth quarter of the Princeton game. Opponents have averaged a mere 146 yards per game against Trenton in the past four weeks.
“Defensively I think we have got to be one of the best fronts in the region,” Boswell said. “I think it is hard to hold teams under 100 yards rushing and keep them from scoring and things like that. We have been doing a lot of that lately. We are just so fortunate to have the talent that we have there.”
While Trenton currently sits in fourth place in the district standings there is one more bit of work to be done. The Bulldogs play host to Concordia this Friday at C.F. Russell Stadium on what will be Senior Night. Trenton can wrap up a home district game with a win and a little help from Savannah, who will be heavily favored against LeBlond in St. Joseph. Both games are set for 7 p.m. starts.

STATISTICS
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Second Quarter
T – Jonathan Lamp 36-yard interception (kick failed).
T – Kail McCarter 45-yard run (run failed).
T – Cree Mullenix 22-yard pass from McCarter (Colton Neff kick).
Third Quarter
T – Mullenix 38-yard pass from McCarter (Neff kick).
K – Blake Lewis 62-yard pass from John Bohon (Bohon run).
T – Lamp 9-yard run (Neff kick).
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TEAM STATISTICS
Stat THS KHS
First Downs 18 6
Rushes-Yards 61-292 17-25
Passing Yards 60 118
Comp-Att-Int 2-2-0 7-10-1
Total Yards 352 143
Penalties-Yards 1-5 4-30
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-1
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, Colton Neff, 18-94; Kail McCarter, 12-92; Travis Leeper, 14-37; Austin Burkeybile, 6-28; Jonathan Lamp, 4-25; Logan Shuler, 6-16; Spencer Harris, 1-0. Kirksville, Blake Lewis, 4-18; Amos Gebhardt, 4-9; Marshall Cook, 2-2; John Bohon, 7-(-4).
PASSING – Trenton, McCarter, 2-2-0, 60 yards, 2 TDs. Kirksville, Bohon, 7-10-1, 118 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING – Trenton, Cree Mullenix, 2-60. Kirksville, Lewis, 4-4-83; Joey Thomas, 2-13; Joe Sollars, 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS – Trenton, Lamp, 1-36. Kirksville, none.
Punting – Trenton, Colston, 3-97 gross, 75 net; 32.3 avg. gross, 25 avg. net.
DEFENSE – Trenton, Trey Shields, 8 tackles, 1 TFL; Mason Owen, 7 tackles; Burkeybile, 6 tackles; Neff, 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack; Isaiah Coon, 4 tackles; Tucker Franklin, 3 tackles; McCarter, 2 tackles, 1 fumble recovery; Mullenix, 2 tackles, 1 sack; Leeper, 2 tackles; Harris, 1 tackle; Shuler, 1 tackle; Connor Cotton, 1 tackle; Colton Allen, 1 tackle; Lucas Clark, 1 tackle; Colton Colston, 1 tackle; Lamp, 1 int.

Class 2, District 8 Scores
Trenton 33, Kirksville 8
Lexington 34, Higginsville 14
Lawson 43, Mid-Buchanan 14
East Buchanan 54, Lathrop 35
Lafayette 42, LeBlond 14
Holden 17, Carrollton 14
Brookfield 20, Palmyra 0

Class 2, District 8 Standings
1. East Buchanan 8-0 47.82
2. Brookfield 7-1 47.43
3. Lexington 8-0 46.66
4. Trenton 6-2 42.02
5. LeBlond 3-5 39.68
6. Lawson 5-3 36.7
7. Lathrop 3-5 32.29
8. Carrollton 2-6 24.75