The Trenton Bulldogs danced around lightning and rain over the weekend, but couldn’t out-run the Lathrop Mules, falling 31-15 on the road in a game that needed two days to be completed.
A pair of close lightning strikes delayed the start of the contest on Friday night and a third strike postponed the game at the 4:40 mark of the second quarter. Trenton trailed just 10-8 at the time of the stoppage but, when the teams reconvened on Saturday, Lathrop took off, running away with the win.
Both offenses struggled early on with Lathrop taking a 3-0 advantage on a 47-yard field goal by Justin Barns. The teams would trade touchdowns after that, leading to the 10-8 score Lathrop led by when play was stopped. Trenton would only score once more on Saturday while Lathrop provided plenty of offensive firepower.
The Mules held the ball for the remaining 4:40 in the first half, when play resumed Saturday. Trenton was unable to push their opponents off the field, but didn’t allow Lathrop to score either.
“Based upon how we came out Saturday, I don’t think the break hurt us,” Trenton Head Coach Brandon Boswell said. “Our defense came out and really reset the tone. It took Lathrop four minutes to get to our 20 and they never came away with any points because our defense really stepped up. I thought our intensity was great.”
The Mules would score in the third quarter, however, putting up 21 points with the wind at their back. Burns hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brock Lewis and Trent Head scored on a 58-yard run as the big play bit Trenton for a second time. Lathrop’s third score came on a two-yard run by Seth McKnight, who scored the Mules’ lone touchdown on Friday.
Down 31-8 with one quarter to go, Trenton was able to march down for a second touchdown, cutting the lead to two scores. Austin Burkeybile led Trenton’s scoring drive in the final frame, carrying the ball seven times for 67 yards and his second touchdown of the game. Burkeybile also scored Trenton’s first touchdown on Friday night, carrying the ball in from one yard out in the second quarter.
“A lot of that was Austin reading linebackers,” Boswell said. “Lathrop’s linebackers were really over-pursuing, so when he got the ball he just had to cut it back. Our offensive line did a great job on the backside of just walling those linebackers down so he could make that cut. We are really proud of Burk and what he did, but we also know that a lot of that was the offensive line taking care of business.”
Trenton’s offense was inconsistent throughout the game, however. The Bulldogs had the two scoring drives and two other sustained drives, but one sputtered and a fumble took away what seemed like a looming touchdown. The Bulldogs committed several penalties offensively with false starts and illegal motions. One offensive penalty took away a first down pass completion from quarterback Lathan Croy to tight end Connor Cotton.
“We just had a hard time getting going,” Boswell said. “Initially, on Friday night, we had three false starts in our first series. That is really going to set you back. We didn’t necessarily do our assignments correctly either, so that kind of gave us some fits.
“We were able to drive the field in about five or six plays in the second quarter there after their field goal, though. We gave up a score then but went right back down the field only to turn the ball over. I think that ultimately was our downfall. When you turn the ball over inside your opponent’s 10-yard line it is going to hurt.”
With the loss Trenton established an 0-1 record to start the season.
UP NEXT
Trenton will open the home portion of the schedule on Friday as the Bulldogs play host to the Lexington Minutemen at C.F. Russell Stadium. Lexington, like Lathrop, is a district foe for the Bulldogs. It will be Trenton’s final game before beginning Grand River Conference play the following week with a home date against Putnam County. Kick off for both games will be at 7 p.m.