SECOND HALF SURGE

Trenton Shuts Out Milan In Second Half

The Trenton Bulldogs’ first trek through the Grand River Conference hasn’t been easy. Trenton remains unbeaten however, thanks to strong second half play.
Friday night was no different as the Bulldogs battled Milan to a 14-14 tie after the first half, but surged ahead in the second to take the game 28-14. Trenton couldn’t shake Putnam County or Princeton in the first half of their first two conference match-ups, but found a second gear in the second half to pull away.
“I think a lot of it is our kids just feel more comfortable,” Trenton Head Coach Brandon Boswell said of his team’s ability to take over in the second half. “We know what we are trying to do on offense and it is really basic – just taking what the defense is giving us.”
Milan’s defense didn’t give Trenton a lot in the opening quarter of play on Friday night, but that is because they weren’t on the field very much. The Wildcats took the opening drive of the game 75 yards for a touchdown. On the drive, Milan collected six first downs and chewed up nearly 10 minutes of game time. By the time the Bulldogs got their offense on the field, they were trailing and down to short time in the opening frame.
“Milan was running an unbalanced offensive line the whole game and that was something we hadn’t really practiced for,” Boswell said. “We weren’t getting lined up correctly on defense on that first drive and we weren’t shifting to their unbalanced line. We weren’t gap-sound everywhere. They really only ran four plays, though, so once we got it all figured out there in the second quarter, things got better.”
Trenton would only allow one more touchdown the rest of the night, coming on a pass play with under a minute to go in the first half.
Offensively, Trenton was forced to find some new alternatives to put points on the board. One week after rushing for a career-high 373 yards against Princeton, Trenton fullback Austin Burkeybile was limited by a Milan defense focused on slowing him down. Burkeybile was hindered by an injured foot as well after it was stepped on during the Bulldogs’ first offensive possession.
“I think Burk got his foot stepped on, but he did a really good job being able to go three more quarters after that happened,” Boswell said. “Milan was crashing their defensive tackles really hard, too, which was something Princeton didn’t do. Their game plan was to stop Burk and they did a good job of it just by their alignment defensively.”
Burkeybile would finish the game with 48 yards on 16 carries. He scored one touchdown, coming in the fourth quarter, his 10th of the season. Burkeybile would get plenty of help on this night as quarterback Lathan Croy and running backs Spencer Harris and Hunter Dugan all stepped up to help provide offense. Croy led Trenton with 95 rushing yards and had a rushing touchdown. Harris added 71 yards and two touchdowns rushing and caught two passes from Croy for 33 yards. Dugan carried the ball just three times but finished with 44 yards, an average of 14.7 yards per carry.
“To have Spencer and Hunter step up was a big deal,” Boswell said. “We couldn’t just go to our basic plays. We had to rely on some more plays like our rocket sweeps and our counters. We needed those two to show up and they did. I think getting the ball to Spencer in space really helped. Milan never adjusted to our trips formation, so we just kind of took advantage of what they gave us there.”
Taking advantage of what the defense presents has been a common theme for the Bulldogs since starting the GRC portion of the schedule. Boswell points to Croy’s ability to read defenses and situations as a big part of Trenton’s turnaround in the last three weeks.
“Lathan has gotten to a point now where he can look at a defense and see how they are aligned and check us into a play that – by alignment – is pretty good for us,” Boswell said. “I think that is what a lot of our success has been and then our offensive line having the ability to play together more now that we are completely healthy has helped a lot as well.”
The victory over Milan moved Trenton to 3-2 overall and 3-0 in the GRC. Trenton is tied with Maysville for first place in the standings after the Wolverines outscored Polo on Friday in a 72-42 shootout.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs travel this week, heading to Bethany to take on South Harrison, which hasn’t won a game yet this season. The Purple and White Bulldogs are 0-3 in GRC play and lost 50-0 to Gallatin on Friday night.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
First Quarter
M – Jaidyn Watts 2-yard run (Eric Moreno kick).
Second Quarter
T – Spencer Harris 13-yard run (Mason Owen kick).
T – Harris 8-yard run (Owen kick).
M – Ian Russell 14-yard pass from Ryan Dabney (Moreno kick).
Third Quarter
T – Lathan Croy 2-yard run (kick failed).
Fourth Quarter
T – Austin Burkeybile 1-yard run (Harris run).
———
TEAM STATISTICS
THS MHS
First Downs 13 16
Rushes-Yards 45-259 45-186
Passing Yards 38 14
Comp-Att-Int 3-7-0 1-5-0
Total Yards 297 200
Penalties-Yards 3-25 7-75
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, Lathan Croy, 13-95; Spencer Harris, 12-71; Austin Burkeybile, 16-48; Hunter Dugan, 3-44; Carson Radcliff, 1-4.
PASSING – Trenton, Croy, 3-7-0, 38 yards.
RECEIVING – Trenton, Harris, 2-33; Colton Colston, 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS – Trenton, None
DEFENSE – Trenton, Connor Cotton, 13 tackles; Lathan Croy, 11 tackles; Mason Owen, 10 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 sack; Jadan Whitney, 7 tackles, 1 TFL; Cole Schilling, 7 tackles; Isaiah Coon, 7 tackles; Burkeybile, 6 tackles, 1 TFL; Harris, 4 tackles, 1 TFL; Dugan, 4 tackles; Colston, 3 tackles; Jeffrey White, 3 tackles; Radcliff, 2 tackles; Chase Marsh, 1 tackle; Luke Lewis, 1 tackle; Dalton Burchett, 1 tackle.
Individual stats from Milan not available as of press time.