St. James did
not have
much go right after winning the opening coin toss.
After
deferring their choice to the second half, UMS-Wright ran
back the
opening kickoff thanks to some trickery for a touchdown
and the game in
general continued to spiral downward throughout most of
the contest as
the defending 4A state champions showed they were well
qualified for a
repeat peformance as the Bulldogs dominated the visiting
Trojans by a
final count of 52 - 7 in the first round playoff meeting.
The opening kickoff return set the unkind tone of
domination for
basically the entire game. Stephen Zalopany fielded
the kickoff
at his own 13, took several steps forward, and threw a
spiral across
the field to an awaiting Chase Williamson, who took the
ball and rushed
down the Bulldog sidelines escaping trouble and going 86
yards for a
score only 15 seconds into the game. Bee Hal
converted the first
of his fivc extra points, and UMS-Wright was up very very
early.
After an endzone kickoff and an 8 yard run by Nick Ostrye
on first
down, it appeared there may be an offensive battle both
ways.
However, that would be one of the longest plays for the
Trojans all
evening. Two more running plays gained about 4 feet,
and the
Trojans heavily gambled on a fourth down conversion deep
in their own
territory. UMS-Wright stopped St. James inches short
of the first
down, and took over just inside the Trojan 30. Three
plays later,
Williamson again was in the endzone, this time at the end
of an eight
yard touchdown pass from Bragg Foshee. The extra
point gave the
Bulldogs a 14 point lead halfway through the first
quarter.
A Trojan punt led to good field position again for
UMS-Wright and they
capitalized. Three plays totalled 48 yards on the
ground, the
final 30 on a breakaway by Chris Dukes, and the lead was
three
touchdowns will still time remaining in the first
quarter. St.
James picked up their initial first down of the game, and
what would be
their only one of the first half, on a 9 yard completion
from Taylor
Poe to Brandyn Baker. On the first play of the
second quarter,
the Trojans had to punt again, but luck was with them as
the low punt
hit an unsuspecting Bulldog on the leg and the ball, after
rolling
dead, was picked up by Trojan Mason McCabe, and the
officials correctly
awarded the ball to the Trojans on the Bulldog 29.
However, after
a pass completion lost 3 yards, a fumble on the next play
gave the ball
back to UMS-Wright. The Trojan defense sparkled on
the following
drive as Foshee was sacked for significant losses
twice. However,
on St. James' next offensive play, a Poe pass was inches
away from
being a likely catch and run for a touchdown, but was
instead
intercepted by Zalopany.
UMS-Wright completed all five of their pass attempts, and
two of them
on this drive coupled with four runs by Dukes had the
Bulldogs hitting
paydirt again. Dukes carried in from 1 yard out for
his second
touchdown, and the Bulldogs were engaging cruise control
mode with a 28
- 0 lead. Dukes' backfield compadre Brandon
Lee scored the
first of his two touchdowns on the next drive from 18
yards, and the
lead was 35 - 0.
After another interception, this one by Patrick Garstecki,
the Bulldogs
drove down to the Trojan 24 before calling time out with
just over 2
seconds remaining in the half. Hal, the starting
kicker, made his
final appearance in the game a good one as he easily
connected on a 41
yard field goal as time expired and the Trojans were
looking way up out
of a 38 - 0 hole.
A St. James punt from deep in its own territory gave
UMS-Wright good
field position again, and they capitalized again.
Dukes' three
runs of 4, 32, and 2 were enough for his second
touchdown. Backup
kicker Graham Phillips joined in the party with an extra
point giving
the Bulldogs a 45 point lead. The bad luck continued
to pile on
for the Trojans as a high snap over quarterback Poe's head
was
recovered by Hunter Payne at the Trojan 7, and Lee
scampered in on
first down for the score. Phillips' extra point
would mercifully
be the last score of the game by UMS-Wright, their 52nd
point, keeping
the Trojans worst point allowed total ever (twice) at 60.
Finally, after a decent kickoff return by John Slayton,
the Trojans
moved, albeit against second string Bulldogs. Nick
Ostrye and
Slayton carried the load on the ground, Slayton picked up
19 on a
well-set-up screen play, and Slayton broke through the
middle of the
secondary for a 27 yard touchdown and a playoff shutout
was
avoided. The Trojans' own backup kicker, Forrest
Taylor, booted
the extra point which led to the eventual final margin of
52 - 7.
With a nearly continuous running clock, only 20 scrimmage
plays were
run in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs got as close
as the
Trojan 6 before turning the ball over on downs with less
than 2 minutes
remaining, and the Trojans were content to run out the
clock in
concession so deep in their own territory to wrap up the
season.
Despite an overall losing record (5 - 6), the Trojans made
it back to
the state playoffs after a four year absence, and the
early five game
winning streak featured arguably some of the most exciting
football
ever played by any St. James team - ingraining such names
as B.J.
Weldon, Brandyn Baker, and Crawford Steinberg into Trojan
football
history - and one day no doubt legendary status of the
team which won
and won very late.
GAME
ELEVEN SIDELINE STATISTICS
ST.
JAMES
RUSHING 33
attempts 79 yards 1 TD (2.39 yards per
carry)
20
Slayton 15 / 54 (1
TD) 19
Ostrye 10 / 21
14
Poe
6
/
2
7
Olsey 2
/ 2
PASSING
4 completions 9 attempts 2
INTs 31 yards (1 sack of, - 4 yards)
14
Poe
4
- 9 - 2 31
yards (1 sack, - 4
yards)
RECEIVING
20
Slayton 2 /
16
45
Baker 2
/ 15
TOTAL
YARDS: 110
KICKS:
XP
1 / 1
FG
0 / 0
2
POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS:
2 (47,45)
PUNTS: 6 (33,34,29,24,33,21)
KO
RETURNS: 3 (13,13,27)
PUNT
RETURNS: 3
(0fc,0fc,-3)
FIRST
DOWNS: 5 (4 rushing, 1 passing)
FUMBLES: 2, lost 2
TURNOVER
MARGIN: - 3
POINTS
OFF OF TURNOVERS: 0
PENALTIES: 4 / 20 yards
TIME
OF POSSESSION: 22:38
UMS-WRIGHT
RUSHING
39
attempts 262 yards 6 TDs (6.72 yards
per
carry) (Chris Dukes 15 / 109)
PASSING
5 completions 5
attempts 0 INTs 54 yards 1 TD (2
sacks of, - 13
yards)
TOTAL
YARDS: 316
KICKS:
XP 7 / 7
FG
1 / 1 (41 made)
2
POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS:
7 (EZ,55,EZ,OB,57,52,51)
PUNTS: 3
(39,39,35)
KO
RETURNS: 2 (86TD,16)
PUNT
RETURNS:
2 (0f,15)
INTERCEPTION
RETURNS: 2 (0,4)
FIRST
DOWNS:
20 (16 rushing, 4 passing)
FUMBLES: 1, lost 1
POINTS
OFF OF TURNOVERS: 17
PENALTIES: 5 / 45
yards
TIME
OF POSSESSION: 25:22
@ UMS-Wright 52, St.
James 7 