Trojans late rally falls short, loses 20-14 to Central East

Oak Ridge was able to pull out a one-point win last week in their first game of the season against Argyle, but in their home opener Friday against Central East, Oak Ridge had a chance, but wasn't able to capitalize on it. Oak Ridge had the ball first-and-10 at the Central East 35-yard line with 53 seconds to play needing a touchdown to tie and an extra-point to win, but could get no further than the 17-yard-yard. Quarterback Nick Johnson threw four straight incomplete passes, the last one batted away from Jack Granrud at the 3-yard-line, and the Trojans lost, 20-14. "I thought we had two good looks in the end zone," Oak Ridge coach Casey Taylor said. "They're very athletic and we couldn't get a lot of separation. Our guys did a great job, though. We had a chance to win and we had to fight hard to get that. Last year we were getting blown out in these games, but this year we had a chance to win." It's actually not often that the Trojans don't have a chance to win games. Oak Ridge always plays tough defense, which gives them a chance. Sometimes the offense does it, sometimes it doesn't. Oak Ridge scored the only points of the third quarter when Sean Gaston scored on a seven-yard touchdown run, cutting the lead in half, 14-7. The biggest play of the game came earlier in the fourth quarter. The Trojans, trailing 14-7, were driving for the tying score when Gatsen fumbled the ball inside the five-yard line and Central East recovered with 8:35 to play. The Bengals capitalized with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Jelani Dippel to Titus Thomas, which essentially turned a tie game into a 20-7 lead with 5:23 to play. Johnson threw an interception on Oak Ridge's next possession, but the Oak Ridge defense forced a punt and got the ball back with 2:45 to play. Johnson hit Nate Anzelc on a six-yard touchdown pass to make the score 20-14 with 2:45 to play, but that's as close as they could get. Johnson completed 13-of-24 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Oak Ridge's defense played great all night. Central East running back Ehis Idoni rushed for 129 yards on 31 carries behind a huge offensive line, but had to work hard for every inch. Up front the Trojans' defensive line of Bret Roberts, Nick Hunt, Blake Meggers and Roman McFarland more than held their own against the bigger Central East line. Linebackers Dylan Esten, Ethan Quan, Justen Womack and Braydon Molloy made a lot of tackles and the secondary of Granrud, Anzelc and Tye Gonsalves, among others, did their job in coverage. Considering the fact that they spent a large majority of the game on the field, especially in the first half, made their effort that much more impressive. The Trojans ran only 11 offensive plays in the first half, but only trailed 14-0 the break. "We just couldn't make a play in the first half," Taylor said. "Every call seemed to go against us and we were fighting pretty hard to stay in the game. We weren't happy to be down 14-0 at halftime, but we felt we were still in it." Fortunately, the Trojans offense was able to pick up its play in the second half. "We did a good job coming out and being more physical," Taylor said. "We found a little bit of a run game. They're really good against the run so they forced us to throw the ball. We got some good openings, but not enough." It would have been interesting to see how the game would have ended if Oak Ridge would have tied the game at 14 instead of fumbling the ball. "You can't fumble the ball, let alone when you're inside the five-yard line," Taylor said. "We had a young guy running the ball and he was trying to do too much and he turned it over. He had some great runs, but we've got to do a better job of taking care of the ball." The Trojans played well and had a chance, but in the end it was close but no cigar. "It was one of those nights where I felt like we were just one play away," Taylor said. "I think they're ranked 10th in the state and they put a whooping on Grant last week. They've got a ton of guys. I think this tells you where we're at as a team. We had a chance to beat these guys. We've got a fourth-quarter team that's not going to quit. I'm proud of the effort. We've just got to execute better down the stretch." Things don't get any easier for the Trojans next week as they face Crean Lutheran in Irvine. "They've got a lot of good athletes," Taylor said. "These are the types of teams we have to play and beat if we want to beat Folsom."