Last week, the football team beat Avon 35-34 in double overtime to win the semi-state championship. The Trojans were down 20-17 with 2 minutes left in the game when quarterback Joey Siderewicz drove the Trojans down the field in a hurry-up offense with no timeouts left. Senior Quinton Stirsman came up with two huge first down receptions on a 4th and 6 and a 3rd and 17 to keep the drive going. Going into the shotgun set, junior Titus McCoy ran hard up the middle to help move the Trojans into field goal range with 5.8 seconds on the clock. The game was now on the shoulders of the Trojans kicker senior Nathanael Snyder who calmly stepped onto the field and nailed a 34-yard field goal to tie the game at 20-20 and send it into overtime.
The Trojans started with the ball at the 10-yard line and scored in two plays, both McCoy runs. Avon answered with a Brandon Peters touchdown pass to tight end Matt Moore, sending the game into double overtime. With the first possession in the second overtime, the Trojan defense toughened, forcing Avon to go for it on 4th and 1. Peters barely crossed the goal line on the quarterback keeper but the PAT was good, giving Avon a 34-27 lead and placing the pressure back on the Trojans’ offense. However, it took only one play for McCoy to walk into the endzone untouched behind seniors Jovan Swann and Cameron Tidd, who were playing on the opposite side of the ball in the “jumbo package.” After the touchdown, Siderewicz immediately signalled for CG to go for two in an attempt to win the game, and after a Trojan timeout, the offense lined up for the game-winning attempt. Running behind Swann and Tidd, McCoy dove into the endzone, winning the game for CG and sending the Trojans to the state championship game.
The team will face the Penn Kingsmen, who defeated Carmel 16-10 last weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 7:05 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium for the class 6A State Championship.
This week the Trojans have a bye week. Classes 1A-5A are playing their semi-state games tonight because there are 64 teams in those classes and only 32 in the 6A class. The Trojans are using this week to recover from the hard fought Avon game and are using the extra time to prepare for Penn.
With two weeks to prepare for the state title game, the team chose to practice this past week with no contact, wearing only helmets and no pads. This allowed players to stay fresh and to focus on the mental aspects of the game and learn their assignments for Penn. The players have spent extra time icing, getting treatment on injuries, stretching before and after practice and watching film. Next week the team will have a normal week of practice, including practicing at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thanksgiving Day and Friday morning. Expect the Trojans to be fresh and ready to go next week, as they embark on their quest for the school’s second football state championship.
