Trenton Hangs Tough, Can’t Topple Milan
R-T Photo/Seth Herrold
Mark Trump lowers his shoulder to meet a Milan defender during Trenton’s 43-22 loss on Friday night at C.F. Russell Stadium. Trump led Trenton in the loss, rushing for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.
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In a season in which the Milan Wildcats are a standardbearer for perfection in the realm of high school football, Trenton – with all of one win under its belt through the first half of the season – had finally stopped the Wildcat juggernaut as a fourth down pass fell harmlessly to the ground. It was the first time all evening the Bulldogs had turned away the Milan offense without yielding points. Trenton would take over, trailing just 25-22 with seven minutes to play in the third quarter.
In this moment, parity was surely alive.
The ambition to knock Milan from the ranks of the unbeaten would not die in the next three plays, but they didn’t help.
A Trenton team that had moved the ball effectively most of the night, trading blows with the Wildcats, suddenly went three and out and punted the ball back to Milan. A defense that had just championed a necessary stop after five minutes of weathering hits from the likes of Jamuel Pagan, Dominic Dabney and Dre Morehead simply couldn’t hold up any longer.
Milan would score three more times while Trenton didn’t find the end zone once in the second half as the Wildcats ran away with a 43-22 victory, vaulting to 6-0 and 4-0 in the Grand River Conference. Trenton, meanwhile, sunk to 1-5 overall and sits at just 1-3 within the league.
“I’ve said all season, I don’t think we are physically outmatched, I don’t think we are athletically outmatched, I don’t think the teams in the GRC are a lot faster than us to where we can’t compete,” Trenton Head Coach Brandon Boswell said. “Nobody has Lathrop’s speed. Are our kids trying? Yeah, they are trying. But, again, I still think that we have some talent out there that is keeping us hanging around.”
To Trenton’s credit, the team nearly had Milan stopped again following the Bulldog punt, but the Wildcats completed an 11-yard touchdown pass on fourth and five to stretch the advantage to 31-22. Trenton marched back down the field, but ultimately turned the ball over on downs and Milan responded with a long drive, capped by a 12-yard touchdown run by Morehead that essentially salted the win away for the visitors.
“I think to be in (the game) and be close there coming back from halftime showed some good things,” Boswell said. “We just can’t quite get over the hump. That’s due to mistakes and due to, I think, a lack of focus sometimes. In the end, that’s going to hurt you against good teams.”
Milan’s final touchdown came on a one-yard run by Pagan, when the Wildcats chose not to kneel on the one-yard line with under 25 seconds left in the game and, instead, punched in an exclamation point.
Trenton landed the game’s first big punch on the opening drive of the night when quarterback Sam Schilling found Jaren Whitney on a 53-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Milan quickly answered with a 55-yard touchdown pass of its own.
The pass defense continued to be an issue for Trenton for the second week in a row. After Princeton’s Cam Hartley lit up the Trenton secondary last week, Ryan Dabney turned in a similar performance for Milan. The Wildcat gunslinger completed nine-of-14 attempts for 172 yards and three touchdowns.
Milan took its first lead of the game on Dabney’s second touchdown pass, this one for 36 yards to Morehead. After falling behind 19-7, Trenton finally got in the end zone again, scoring on a three-yard run by Mark Trump.
Trump finished the night with a team high 122 yards on 24 carries. Carson Radcliff added 51 yards on 12 carries and Schilling, who rushed in Trenton’s final score from two-yards out late in the first half, added 41 yards on seven carries. He also threw for 101 yards, but completed just four of 10 attempts.
For the Bulldogs it’s back to the drawing board after coming up short for the second week in a row. Trenton’s test in week seven will be South Harrison, which will play host to Trenton after dropping its first conference game of the year on Friday, 23-22 to Gallatin.
“In the end our kids come to practice,” Boswell said. “We are having a rough season, but they come to practice and they practice for us. It takes a lot to keep them on task and focused, but we will just try to keep doing that and, meanwhile, try to develop young kids and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve had this season down the road.”
Kickoff at South Harrison’s Memorial Stadium in Bethany is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
STATISTICS
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
First Quarter
T – Sam Schilling 53-yard pass to Jaren Whitney (Connor Crawford kick).
M – Ryan Dabney 55-yard pass to Hunter Shaw (Eddie Gonzalez kick).
M – Ryan Dabney 36-yard pass to Dre Morehead (kick failed).
M – Jamuel Pagan 2-yard run (run failed).
Second Quarter
T – Mark Trump 3-yard run (Crawford kick).
M – Morehead 1-yard run (run failed).
T – Trump 5-yard run (Schilling run).
Third Quarter
M – Ryan Dabney 11-yard pass to Morehead (pass failed).
Fourth Quarter
M – Morehead 12-yard run (run failed).
M – Pagan 1-yard run (kick blocked).
———
TEAM STATISTICS
THS MHS
Rushes-Yards 44-209 49-276
Passing Yards 101 172
Comp-Att-Int 4-10-0 10-14-0
Total Yards 310 448
First Downs 13 15
Penalties-Yards 4-38 3-35
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Trenton, Mark Trump, 24-122; Carson Radcliff, 12-51; Sam Schilling, 7-41; Brian Ewing 1-(-5). Milan, Jamuel Pagan, 26-132; Dominic Dabney, 13-91; Dre Morehead, 6-32; Ryan Dabney, 4-21.
PASSING – Trenton, Schilling, 4-10-0, 101 yards, 1 TD. Milan, Ryan Dabney, 10-14-0, 172 yards, 3 TDs.
RECEIVING – Trenton, Jaren Whitney, 2-57; Radcliff, 1-25; Isaac Harris, 1-19. Milan, Hunter Shaw, 2-86; Morehead, 3-56; Dominic Dabney, 5-30.
DEFENSE – Trenton, Jadan Whitney, 27 tackles; Jaren Whitney, 15 tackles; Hunter Trask, 8 tackles; Mathew Sibbit, 7 tackles; Harris, 6 tackles; Radcliff, 5 tackles; Jerrick Stotts, 5 tackles; Noah Lewis, 4 tackles; Tyler Siemer, 4 tackles; Nick Shields, 4 tackles; Carson Burchett, 3 tackles; Dalton Burchett, 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack; Schilling, 1 tackle; Ewing, 1 tackle; Beau Ireland, 1 tackle.