On Sep. 15, Trojan Football was scheduled for a marquee matchup against the Manchester Lancers at F.W Poates Stadium. The formerly unbeaten Trojans were looking to depend on a run game that features D.K Chapman and Knox Berry, along with a defense that has performed excellently early in the season. The Lancers, who averaged 47.5 points per game in their first two games, were entering Friday night with the goal to get Devin Bryant and Kyree Richardson going early against an inexperienced secondary.
Heading into this game, the Trojans were a game removed from their first shutout of the season against Cosby. Because of that, the rest of the team was optimistic that their defense can be good enough to slow down Manchester’s offense. However, the Lancers were too much to handle as they dropped the Trojans to 4th in the dominion region with a 28-19 victory.
In the first half the Trojans and Lancers found themselves in unfamiliar territory after Manchester’s 80 yard passing touchdown on their first possession. The pair of dominion teams failed to put possessions together offensively because of the five takeaways forced from the opposing defenses. Midlothian’s three takeaways, two forced fumbles and an interception return for a touchdown, put the Lancers in a desperate search for an adjustment. According to Coach Gross, he thinks that a first half like this is something that they can build on heading into the middle of the season.
“Despite the loss, this group showed that they are more than capable of slowing down a high octane offense with takeaways,” Coach Gross said. “Obviously we couldn’t sustain that for the entire game on Friday, but these kind of games are the growing pains of being a great team heading into the postseason.”
Following two unpredictable quarters, Coach Hall came out of halftime telling their players to “cut the hero ball and trust your teammates.” In their first possession of the second half, Manchester attempted to control time of possession with their offensive line, and give the football to their playmakers as much as possible. As a result, the Lancers put together a methodical eight play drive that concluded with a one yard rushing touchdown from Devin Bryant. This was start of a critical momentum shift in the second half that left the Trojans desperately searching for a comeback.
According to Kyree Richardson, the coaching staff’s speech at halftime gave the team the courage necessary to shift momentum in the second half. “Individually, it is not your job to do everything on the field, you have ten other players on the field,” Kyree Richardson said. “Once the coaching staff gave us that reminder, we all jelled as one and took off from there.”
In the second half, the Lancers put the game out of reach with their defense leaving Midlothian’s offense scoreless up until the last minute of the game. However, Midlothian’s defense put themselves at a disadvantage by having multiple 3rd down penalties in the 4th quarter. Because of that, their offense did not have as much opportunities to put a drive together on the Lancers defense. According to Coach Gross, he credits Coach Tom Hall and the rest of Manchester’s team for making important adjustments during halftime.
“We haven’t faced a team that can put you to sleep like the Lancers did to us in the second half,” Coach Gross said. ” An important part of sports is making as many counters as possible to what your opponent is doing well. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find an answer to what the Lancers were doing to slow us down in the second half.”
The Trojans were unable to extend their extend their win streak to four on the young season. This loss will drop Midlothian to 3-1 on the season, as well as them losing to Manchester for the third time in four years. After suffering this defeat, the Trojans will have the chance to regroup on a bye week before battling against Clover Hill Cavaliers on Sep. 29. On the other hand, this win for Lancers puts them a game back of first place in the dominion region as the prepare for them next game against the James River Rapids on Sep. 22.
