FINAL COUNTDOWN

Trenton To Close Out Regular Season Against South Harrison

As the Trenton Bulldogs continue to hunt for a victory in 2020, the task continues to get harder. Trenton has worked its way up the Grand River Conference tiers in recent weeks in terms of opponents and the final regular season game of the season comes against the South Harrison Bulldogs – a team that currently sits tied atop the league standings.
South Harrison was selected by the conference coaches as the preseason favorite to win the league in 2020. After a 26-7 win over Milan in week 7, that certainly appeared like it would be the case. But the Bethany-based Bulldogs were tripped up the following week by Princeton, falling 28-6 on the road at Eddie Allen Field. For the second year in a row, a loss to Princeton has South Harrison looking at a likely split conference title as opposed to the outright crown.
So how will South Harrison respond in week 9 against Trenton? The Bulldogs have certainly struggled this year so South Harrison will likely see this game as an opportunity to get healthy heading into district play the following week.
“I hope (our kids) are up for this game and understand they are playing a spoiler role,” Trenton coach Kevin Hixson said. “It would be great to get a conference win, but it would be really great to get one over South Harrison because nobody is going to see that coming.”
Last week’s loss to Princeton aside, South Harrison has had a very successful season. The Purple and White Bulldogs had outscored conference competition 210-21 leading up to the Princeton loss and have three shutouts over GRC opponents this year.
“They have good numbers, 12-to-15 kids per class, and that gives you great numbers,” Hixson said. “Their skill guys and almost all of their offensive linemen are coming of age – juniors and seniors. They are big and physical and things are clicking. They have that experience so everything is just kind of falling together for them. They play hard and they still make some of those high school mistakes, but they are as physical of a team as there is in the conference.”
Weather may impact what both teams want to do in the game as well. Rain overnight on Thursday into Friday could make the playing surface at C.F. Russell Stadium in Trenton play a little slower than it traditionally does. There is also a small chance of rain during the game as well.
To the Bulldogs’ benefit, a slower track could limit South Harrison quarterback Austin Lasher’s speed. If that is the case, South Harrison becomes more one-dimensional as they will look to feed Gradyn Linthacum up the middle. Linthacum is a load to bring down, though, so that might be a tough task to handle.
Trenton has done a much better job of hanging onto the ball this year than in recent seasons where ball security was a huge issue. Trenton has just two turnovers from fumbles since week one when Trenton gave Brookfield the ball four times with fumbles.
Still, Trenton will have to put a premium on holding onto the football this week if they want an opportunity to pull off the upset.
Trenton and South Harrison kick off from C.F. Russell Stadium tonight (Friday) at 7 o’clock.