Trojans end season in defeat

By Nick Corn
For the second straight year, the Girard Trojans were handed a first-round exit in the 4A-II playoffs at the hands of a CNC foe. Last year, Girard’s season was ended by Columbus. Last night, it was the Frontenac Raiders who took a 38-6 win over the Trojans to advance to the second round.

Not much went right for Girard offensively, as the Trojans had to face a stout Raider defense without senior running back and defensive nightmare, Trey Eaton. Defensively, the Trojans kept the game close for a while, but the Raider’s offensive attack proved to be to potent.

After a Raider touchdown on the first drive, the Trojans only allowed one more score the rest of the first half. Other than two touchdown drives, the Raiders were forced to punt twice and once after a huge sack by Trojan linebacker Kross Hamblin.

Girard just wasn’t able to get the offense clicking, and they didn’t collect a first down until their fourth drive of the game, which ended in a fumble. Their last drive of the first half ended in an interception, and the Raiders took a 12-0 lead into the locker room.

The Trojans started with the ball in the second half. After being stopped on fourth down at the Raider 20, the game started to unravel. Frontenac quickly scored a touchdown, and forced a Trojan punt which was returned for another Raider touchdown.

With 1:16 left in the third quarter, Frontenac knocked the wind out of Girard with a 25-0 lead.
Girard’s lone score made it a 25-6 ballgame when sophomore Isaiah Fisher, who split carries at running back with sophomore Camden McFarland, scampered around the left side for an eight-yard touchdown run. Frontenac responded with two more touchdowns to take the 38-8 victory.
Girard was held to 55 yards on the ground on 31 attempts, while they completed 8-18 passes for 87 yards while being intercepted twice. The Raiders ran for 239 yards on 31 carries and passed for 132 yards on 9-18 passing.

Moving forward, the Trojans will look to replace nine seniors in total, including Ted Paoni, Kolby Morrison, Junior Lindbloom, Trey Eaton, and Kross Hamblin, who were frequently heard across the speakers and radio all season long. Fortunately, the Trojans were able to mix in a slew of underclassmen in 2015, and several players will return with big time experience. Leading the returnees in 2016 will be junior quarterback Eric Wilson. Wilson has now started two playoff games in his career and will return with a lot of experience. Sophomore running backs Fisher and McFarland received valuable varsity reps, and junior tight end Jordan Hopson should build off a strong season.

While the CNC is as challenging as unpredictable, the Trojans have pieces to build off a 6-4 2015 season.