Football: Trojans get best of JV Chargers

by Jason Wolverton

Saginaw High capitalized on a few big plays offensively Thursday and smothered Dow’s attack on defense as the visiting Trojans defeated the junior varsity Chargers 16-0 at Midland Community Stadium.

The Trojans scored on runs of 21 yards in the first quarter and 15 yards in the third and converted the two-point conversions on both to complete the scoring. But the Trojans dominated both sides of the ball most of the game and had three touchdowns called back on penalties that would have made the score more lopsided.

“We need to learn how to tackle, and we need to come out ready for a game and play for four quarters,” said Chargers’ coach Charlie Stinson. “We were not ready to play tonight. As hard as we tried to get them ready, I believe our guys walked out on the field tonight and just thought they could roll over a team.”

Dow got the ball to begin the game, but the Trojans’ defense came up with some key stops and forced the Chargers to punt. Jacob Moody’s kick went out of bounds at the 1, putting Saginaw in the shadow of their own goal line and leaving Dow’s defense eyeing a potential safety. Saginaw had other things in mind, though, breaking off several big plays on their way to a 99-yard drive that concluded with a 21-yard score with 6:23 to go in the first.

The two teams would trade possessions the remainder of the quarter before Dow went on a long drive to begin the second. However, the Chargers were stopped on fourth-and-five from Saginaw’s 16 and turned the ball over on downs.

The Trojans would later turn the ball over on downs themselves, setting up another scoring chance for Dow. But a sack on quarterback Trenton Dunford and a few costly penalties left the Chargers running out the clock to head into halftime down 8-0.

“There’s not a whole lot that we coaches can do when we get out at the field at six on Thursday,” Stinson said of some of the Chargers’ mistakes. “As much work as we actually do with them, for some reason or another right at the moment they’re not making the transfer from practice out to the game field.”

Things weren’t much different in the second half for Dow as more big plays seemed to haunt the Chargers. With 4:34 to play in the third, the Trojans’ quarterback would take a keeper and cut it to the outside for a 15-yard score to pad Saginaw’s lead. The two-point conversion made it 16-0.

Stinson said the Trojans’ athleticism did create a challenge for his defense, but added that the Chargers faced similar athletes from schools such as Flint Northern and Flint Central and didn’t have as many problems.

“[Saginaw High] has some good kids, definitely,” Stinson said. “…but I find it hard to believe that we couldn’t do a better job. For some reason or other we just weren’t ready to play tonight.”

One silver lining for the Chargers was the play of their defense in the final 12 minutes. Early in the fourth quarter, Saginaw had a first down from the Chargers’ 5 and was threatening to score. But a few costly penalties by Saginaw and some key stops by the defense resulted in the Chargers’ getting the ball back.

Dunford would throw an interception on the ensuing series, though, to put the Trojans in scoring position again. Once more the Chargers’ defense prevailed, this time stopping Saginaw on fourth-and-11 to get the ball back on their own 12 with 6:25 to go.

Dow punted two minutes later giving the Trojans new life at midfield, but for the third time in the quarter the Chargers’ defense would force a turnover on downs, this time on fourth-and-inches with 1:32 left.

“They finally got some guts,” Stinson said of his defense. “We put some people in who were doing the right thing and they started playing together as a team rather than trying to do their own thing.”

As was the case all night, though, the Chargers’ offense would be unable to muster much of an attack as the clock ran out on Dow and their chance for a comeback.

“Sooner or later when [the team] starts to believe in our philosophy and play together as a team then they’ll be good,” Stinson said. “But until that point in time, when they continue to play one-on-one and do their own thing and not listen to what we’re saying on the sideline to them, that’s what happens. You lose a game like that sixteen to zip.”

The Chargers will be in action next Thursday when they travel to Bay City Central to face off against the Wolves. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

For more photos from Thursday’s game, click on “Photo Slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos by Jason Wolverton