Trojans tame rivals, on the road Friday at Columbus

In a Friday night matchup of two of the best teams in all of Class B, the Whitehall/Harrison High School football team bounced back from an early Jefferson County High School score with three consecutive touchdowns on their way to a 29-14 Homecoming victory over their cross-county rivals.

"These kids prepare so hard, and preparation is what is getting the job done for us," head coach Dan Lacey said following the game. "We spend a ton of time watching film and the kids understand situations we need to be in and we play as 11 really well. That's something we've got to keep doing to be successful."

After the Panthers scored just plays after a Whitehall turnover on a 35-yard run from Hayden Guisti, the Trojans would capitalize on a Jefferson miscue when Braden Smith scored on a four-yard touchdown with 4:31 left in the opening quarter. Whitehall reached in their bag of tricks on the extra point when holder Wyatt Alexander pitched the ball to Cade Briggs who took it in for two points to give the Trojans an 8-7 lead.

Whitehall (7-0, 5-0 Southern B) would score once more in the opening quarter, this time on a 19-yard pass from Max Feight to Alexander with under a minute left in the first.

The Feight to Alexander connection would once again pay dividends early in the second, this time on a 37 yard touchdown pass with 10:27 left in the half. The successful extra point by Cade Briggs would push the Trojans lead to 22-7.

The Panthers would find the end zone several players later on a nine-yard run by Nate Burnett to cut the lead to 22-14.

The Whitehall defense would step up strong in the third quarter and stop Jefferson on two fourth down plays.

After a scoreless third quarter, Whitehall was able to get a fierce wind at their back and scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on another Feight to Alexander touchdown, this time a 40-yard strike to put them up 29-14 with 11:52 left in the game. Lacey said it was huge for the team to be able to get the deep plays.

The Trojans sealed the game with fourth quarter interceptions from Briggs and Alexander.

"They (Jefferson) are totally different than us. They are looking to run the rock and if we can get them to pass things are going to happen, and you saw that with our secondary," Lacey said.

The Trojans coach also lauded the atmosphere from the large homecoming crowd.

"I talked to my wife after the game and she told me how packed it was. I'm so invested in the game that I usually don't get to sit back and look at all the support our team has so it's great to finish the game and see all of the people congratulating these kids that worked so hard to win that game on Friday night. It was a privilege for me to be a part of it. I'm a very lucky person to be the head coach of the Whitehall Football team," he said.

The Trojans will be on the road next Saturday at Columbus. Lacey said a key for the game will be playing all their phases of the game their way.

"If we are able to do that, good things will happen," he said.