Defending GRC Crown Begins With Defense

Offense wins games, defense wins championships.
The saying is well aged among coaching clichés but, if you choose to believe it, then the Trenton Bulldogs will have a good opportunity to repeat as Grand River Conference champions this season.
A defensive unit chock full of returnees will be one of the Bulldogs’ biggest strengths this season. Headlined by defensive tackle Mason Owen and linebacker Lathan Croy, Trenton boasts a unit that should rank among the conference’s best in 2017.
This year head coach Brandon Boswell will take over the defensive unit after defensive coordinator Scott Stevens left to take the head coaching position at Brookfield in the offseason. Boswell will be leaning on his front seven to help take some of the pressure off a secondary that will have just one player back from last season, for the first two weeks anyway. Owen and Croy will have the biggest roles, but Jadan Whitney and Cole Schilling are also returning all-district and All-GRC selections.
Owen led Trenton last year with 105 tackles, earning unanimous first-team All-GRC honors. His 17 tackles for loss were tops on the team as well and he added two sacks, two fumble recoveries and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown. Croy was right behind Owen, picking up 103 tackles.
Schilling returns to his defensive end position where last year he recorded 45 tackles, eight for loss, and four sacks. Whitney, who was Trenton’s other end a year ago, will move to middle linebacker this season. Whitney had 65 tackles, eight for loss and three sacks a year ago.
“With the talent that we have coming back we should be pretty strong, especially up front,” Boswell said. “Having so many back really helps us and those front six are going to be really strong. The other five just need to get better week to week and I think we see improvements every day.”
With those four up front, along with Avery Cooksey, who will step into Whitney’s vacated end spot, Trenton should be pretty strong up front. In the secondary, however, the Bulldogs have just two players back in Hunter Dugan and Colton Colston, who were the team’s cornerbacks last year. Dugan moves from corner to free safety this season while Colston will return to his cornerback spot in week three when he becomes eligible after missing the start of the season due to military obligations.
Until Colston returns, Chase Marsh and Nick Shields will hold down the outsides. Matthew Sibbit will anchor the strong safety spot.
While the Bulldogs boast a solid defense, they will be tested. In addition to a speedy Lathrop team in week one and the always strong rushing attack of Lexington in week two, the Grand River Conference should be a good scoring league this year. At nearly every turn, Trenton will have its hands full with a pretty solid athlete. Princeton quarterback Andrew Smith, Gallatin quarterback Cole McBee, Milan quarterback Ryan Dabney and Putnam County running back Carson Quint are all exceptional athletes who will require a lot of attention each week.
“When you have a quarterback who is a threat to run or throw, it definitely stretches your defense,” Boswell said. “Our conference has a variety in terms of offenses. Princeton can spread you out and throw it whereas Polo just gets right under center and comes right at you. Milan runs the wing T as well as anybody and they can do a lot of fancy things with it. It can cause problems for a defense so you just have to make sure you have the right alignment and you have everything covered and then it is just up to your kids to make plays. We are going to have to do that with some of the talent we have in the conference this year.”