The Magee Trojans improved to 7-0 and won the battle of the undefeated against the Raleigh Lions last Friday. Somebody’s “0” had to go, and the Trojans proved themselves to be the superior team, thanks to an outstanding effort from their defense.
The Raleigh Lions have not scored fewer than 21 points in a game all season and were coming off a 42-0 win over Puckett when they ran into the Trojans. On the other hand, Magee has held their opponents to 6 points or less in fpir of their seven wins. Holding Raleigh to 0 points was the second shutout of the season for the Trojans.
There was plenty of bulletin board material to go around this week as the highly anticipated matchup was discussed well in advance of gameday. Many of the predictions had Raleigh winning, which added fuel to the Trojans’ already blazing defense. Raleigh struggled to move the ball all night. The Lions’ offense was stifled by the Trojans’ defense at every turn. DeLarrius Hayes met running backs between the tackles on several occasions and always got the best of his matchup. Quaylin Berkhalter, Jonte Lee, Zykerian Magee, and Isaac Magee made several plays in the backfield, refusing to let Raleigh gain any momentum in the game.
When the Lions decided to pass, their quarterback had little time, and when he managed to get a pass off it was well defended. The secondary featuring Akavion Griffith, Connor Pittman, Shandan Clark, Tig Harris, Ken Porter and Jeremiah Cole did an excellent job covering receivers down field and making tackles.
The Trojan offense made timely plays, and quarterback Kendal Middleton did an excellent job spreading the ball around to his receivers. Christian Hubbard scored the first touchdown of the game on a quick screen pass. He got good blocks and made a defender miss before crossing the goal line for a touchdown.
Antonio Floyd had an outstanding day, routinely beating his defender for big gains. Floyd and Middleton connected on a beautiful deep ball in the second quarter. Middleton threw a fade toward the sideline and Floyd adjusted well, making an over the shoulder catch for a big play. The two connected again on the drive, this time for a touchdown. Floyd beat his defender at the line of scrimmage on a quick slant for a TD.
After the game Floyd said about his matchup, “He was giving me everything. It felt great to come to Raleigh and get a big win and stay undefeated. We plan to come out next week as hard as we did today.”
The Trojans led 14-0 at halftime, a score that held throughout the remainder of the game. The Trojan offense stalled in places and made some untimely errors but never really put the defense in too compromising a position in the second half. The Trojans had an answer for every adjustment made by the Lions.
Head Coach Chase Courtney said, “We had a really good week and we knew it would be a barometer of where we’re at. That’s a really good team and probably one of the top teams in 2A. This was a playoff type atmosphere and a playoff type game, and I was really proud of the week of preparation and how locked in they were.”
Courtney said he was proud to see his team win a lower scoring game and be able to play smash mouth football because those situations will happen deep in the playoffs.
When asked about his defense, Courtney said, “Coach Milloy had a great game plan, and they can’t win if they can’t score. They didn’t score so they can’t win.”
This was a non-district game but it served as a great dress rehearsal for the Trojans’ next opponent the Jefferson Davis County Jaguars. JDC runs a similar wing-t style offense and the Trojans will be prepared to play the same style of gme. JDC currently leads the district at 3-0 and the Trojans are in second place at 2-0. The game this Friday will likely determine the District Champions for the season.
Everyone is encouraged to come out and support the Trojans this Friday at Trojan Field.
