Following a disappointing loss to James River, the Trojans will have a tough challenge at Forest Hill Avenue as they face a 5-2 Huguenot team on Oct. 27.
“It’s a frustrating way to lose because we gave the Rapids a chance to come back when we could’ve sealed the game away before the one minute mark,” Coach Gross said. “In spite of our frustration, we can’t dwell on the loss because it will lead to destroyed chemistry on and off the field. We have to focus on how we’re going to put together a victory against one of the best teams in our region.”
Huguenot is a game removed from their 27-26 loss against the Cosby Titans in overtime on Oct. 19. Huguenot scored first thirteen points in the first quarter; giving themselves the right momentum heading into the second quarter. However, the Falcons would follow that up with scoring thirteen points in four combined quarters. In order to recover from this loss, Huguenot will need to do a better job of making adjustments offensively against a better defensive unit.
“As the head coach, my goal is to concentrate on the small things that we’ve done incorrectly; because quite frankly, that’s what wins you state championships in November,” Huguenot Coach Charles Scott said. “We’re set to face a defense that forces turnovers that make you scratch your head. After Jason Wright’s struggles in the second half of our game last week, our goal as a coaching staff will be to regain his mojo through short and quick passes.
As Midlothian prepares for their dominion test, they will focus on cleaning up the back-breaking mistakes that they made against the Rapids. On their last offensive possession of the game, the Trojans made a questionable decision to pass the ball on the first two downs before having to punt the ball away. Because of this mistake, it gave James River’s offense a chance to drive down the field and score a game winning touchdown at the end of regulation.
“As the quarterback of this team, I need to do a better job of steering the ship for this offense,” Senior Chase Chambers said. ” With the talent that we have on this offense, there’s no reason why we should’ve scored just 12 points in four quarters. If we got into rhythm offensively, our defense wouldn’t have to be put in a position to get a game saving stand on defense.”
Along with their offensive struggles, the Trojans had a difficult time slowing down a high volume rushing offense last week against James River. Their defense gave their opposition huge gaps to run through in the second half; including a 23 yard run with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter. Heading into this contest, containing the high volume run game will be at the top of the Trojan’ to do list once again. According to Coach Delans, the Trojans will have to figure out a game plan to slow down the duo of quarterback Jason Wright and running back Michael Dabney Jr. in the read option game.
“Even though football has headed towards being more pass centric, there’s still going to be teams that will force your head to spin because of their run game; Huguenot is one of those teams,” Coach Delans said. “This team is averaging close to 200 rushing yards per game off the strength of their excellent play calling on 1st and 2nd down. In order to give ourselves the edge, we have to force Jason Wright to throw the ball downfield instead of handing the ball off to the running back duo of Michael Dabney Jr. and John Washington.”
With the playoff being around the corner, this will be the one and only meeting that Huguenot and Midlothian will have in the 2023 season.The last time these two teams played was on Oct. 27, 2022, when the Trojans scored 29 points in the second quarter to steer them towards a 49-0 victory at F.W Poates Stadium. With both teams making noteworthy changes with their coaching staff and roster, it’s going to be a highly anticipated contest with the pair of units playing for high seeding in the playoffs.
“Part of growing as a team is learning from your failures during the season and figuring out a way to respond from them,”Coach Fout said. “We can’t focus on the past because it already happened, there’s nothing you can do about it now. However, with the playoffs starting in two weeks, what we do have control over the issues can we can fix from our loss to James River so that we can put together a great game for 48 minutes against Huguenot.”
