This may have been the most complete performance put forth by the Trojans this season. After the game, Coach Dyess called Magee's effort "special" and "the best game we've played all season."
Anyone who traveled to Ridgeland for Friday’s contest could well attest to the Trojans’ dominance and perseverance as the team battled to overcome many questionable penalties in what became a lopsided victory for the boys in red.
In recent weeks, the Magee defense has proved to be a force to be reckoned with as they have kept the Trojans in games when the offense went through dry spells. Defense is often undervalued because it's just not as sexy as offense. Good defenses are nasty, gritty, and not very flashy. Magee's defense has become all of these things. Early in the game, it was the Magee defense that set up the offense for the first score of the game. On the opening drive of the game, the Trojans forced a St. Andrew's fumble that was recovered by K.D. Dampeer. On offense, Xavier Franks had his coming out party as a bonafied star for the Trojans. Franks made his mark on the game early on the receiving end of a 30-yard passing touchdown from Javo Thurman to give Magee an early 7-0 lead. The Trojan defense was not finished with creating turnovers as a Bronsha Harris interception in the endzone ended the next Saints possession. The following Magee drive started off in inauspicious fashion as the Trojans faced 4th and 1 on their first set of downs on the possession. In short yardage situations, it is a pretty smart play call to hand the ball to Ross McInnis and let the human wrecking ball do his thing. McInnis drove forward for six when he only needed one to extend the drive and followed up with runs of 5 and 6 yards on the next two plays. The drive seemed to stall out again as Magee faced another 4th down on the drive, this time a rare pass interference call on the Saints bailed the Trojans out to keep the drive going. J. Thurman connected with Matthew Thurman on 2nd down to put Magee in a very manageable 3rd and inches. This time, the Saints managed to snuff out the McInnis run for a 2-yard loss, forcing the Trojans to settle for a 41-yard Sam Rials field goal that was driven through the uprights with ease to extend the lead to 10-0 as the opening quarter drew to an end.
The two teams exchanged punts to start the second quarter before the Saints were finally able to mount some form of sustainable offense on the night. St. Andrews quarterback Holland Townes connected with Aaron Cooper for 12 on a curl route followed up with a hook route to Jamon Harkless to for 5. The Saints stalled and faced 3rd and 5 to keep the drive going. The Townes pass sailed high over the head of Nathan Barham, but a very questionable pass interference on Josh Sanders moved the chains for St. Andrews. The Saints running game finally found some room against the vaunted Trojan defense as David Caddle fought forward for 8 to set up 2nd and 2 followed by a run of 5 with a 5-yard facemask penalty tacked on to move the ball to midfield. Townes hit Barham on a quick post pattern for 18 to get into Magee territory. A.J. Leflore added to the mix on the ground as he tacked on a 9-yard run to move the ball near the Trojans' redzone. As the Saints faced 2nd and inches, Townes showed off a good hard count as he drew the Magee D-line offsides to get a free first down. Townes put St. Andrews on the board as he connected with Jake Monk for a 18-yard touchdown to draw the score to 10-7 Trojans' way. That is the closest the Saints would get on the night to Magee.
Clinging to a three point lead, the Trojans' offense stalled after failing to convert on 3rd and 20 after a pass interference call put Magee behind the chains early in the possession. Malik Paul flipped the field for the Trojans as he unleashed a low line-drive punt that sailed over the Saints' returnman and toppled down to the St. Andrews’ 14 for a net of 61-yards on the punt. The Magee defense produced a quick 3-and-out to force another Saints punt. On 4th down, Sanders flashed his speed with an impressive 38-yard punt return that was negated by another questionable penalty; this time a block in the back call erased the Sanders gain. That had little effect on the Trojans' success on the subsequent drive as Thurman continued to favor Franks as a deep threat as the two connected for 24 down to the St. Andrew's 8. Sanders would finish off the drive on a quick shovel pass from the 1 to push the lead to 16-7 after a botched snap on the extra point. That score would hold on to halftime as Magee held the 9 point lead going into the third quarter.
Magee started the second half with the ball and picked up right where they left off offensively in the first half. Thurman and crew took the field looking to put the game away early in the second half. The Thurman and Thurman connection reunited for 5 on second down to set up 3rd and 5. A quick bubble screen to Franks allowed the senior receiver to sidestep the would be tackler and scamper for a 52-yard touchdown to continue his career night that saw him finish with 5 receptions for 171 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns.
Townes and the Saints offense took the field trailing 22-7 early in the 3rd in desperate need of points to keep the game within reach. Townes connected with Barham for 9 on first followed by a holding penalty on the Trojans to put the Saints in Magee territory. Townes found Barham again for 10 to move down to the Magee 35. Harkless toted the ball for 11 to get near the Trojan redzone. The St. Andrews drive stalled on 3rd after Chandler Pittman broke up a pass that would have been enough to move the chains to force a 35-yard Hunter Bryson field goal that closed the gap to 22-10 with 7:22 in the 3rd.
On the ensuing kickoff, Terrell Thornton took the squib kick for down to the St. Andrews 30. McInnis wasted little time finding the endzone as he took the first play of the drive to the house untouched for a 30-yard touchdown to make the lead 29-10 with 6:56 in the 3rd. The following Saints drive sealed the deal for the Trojans. Townes led the Saints down deep inside the Magee 5 as they looked as if a touchdown was immanent. The calling card of the St. Andrews offense all night had been pick plays and rub routes that were never called for pass interference because you know...home cooking tastes really good...The Trojans had been narrowly missing out on intercepting passes throughout the night on these plays, finally Sanders broke through on 4th and goal. Sanders sat on the flat route that ran into the open space left by dual slants on the trips side of the Saints offense. Sanders broke as soon as Townes cocked his arm to throw and jumped in front of the receiver to intercept the Townes pass in the endzone and return the ball 72-yards to the St. Andrews 28. From there, Thurman found Franks for a 20-yard touchdown strike to run the score to 36-10 as the 4th quarter got underway.
With the game likely out of reach, the Saints looked to score to save some pride on the teams Senior Night. Townes had the offense moving in the right direction before Sanders tipped a pass intended for Monk that instead found the arms of CP2 who returned the ball 52-yards for a score, but again a "block in the back" penalty erased the touchdown. The following Magee drive ended with a well set up screen pass that was intended for McInnis but lacked the touch from Thurman as it sailed just out of reach of the senior running back. After a quick 4-and-out by the Saints, Magee took back over on the St. Andrews 36. The drive took only two plays and ended with a Thurman to Sanders 26-yard touchdown on a fly route to put the lead up to 43-10 which would be the final as the Trojans continued to march towards the playoffs in firm control of the #2 seed.
After the game, Dyess praised the team’s ability to overcome the obstacles placed in front of them on the night: "They just kept plugging no matter what went against us and I thought that was huge, they threw a lot of hitches and stuff and our DB's made a lot of one-on-one plays we had not been making, I'm really, really proud of this team tonight." One possible setback on the night for the Trojans was an apparent ankle injury for star linebacker Chase Rankin. Dyess commented on the outlook for Rankin's status going forward, "I think it's fine, we'll get him in for treatment in the morning and get him taken care of, but I think he's fine." The Trojans will need Rankin come November if the team hopes to make a deep run in the playoffs. Magee will play host to the Tigers of Crystal Springs for Senior Night this Friday. The Tigers enter the game 5-3 looking to bounce back from a 58-21 thumping at the hands of Velma Jackson. The Tigers stand at 1-2 in division and desperately need a win to stay in the conversation to host a playoff game. A win by Magee all but locks up a 1st round game at home for the Trojans. Make sure to come out and support our Magee seniors for their final regular season home game for the Trojans this Friday at 7 p.m.
