(KWMN)- The Rushford-Peterson Trojans earned their first victory of the season last Thursday night, topping Hayfield 28-8.
The Trojans didn’t find immediate success offensively, but the defense gave the other side of the ball some leeway, and eventually they broke through.
The rushing attack led the way for the offense, as the backfield combined for 182 rushing yards. The highlight came from sophomore Jaxson Meldahl when he burst through the first level of the defense in route to a 78-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for the Trojans.
Meldahl had shown flashes of his ability going as far back as last season, and in the few opportunities he got in this ballgame, he proved those flashes weren’t a fluke. Meldahl finished with 128 yards and a touchdown on just six rushes. Jonah Bunke got the bulk of carries and finished with a touchdown of his own and 28 yards.
The air attack for the Trojans still lags behind the rushing attack, but the two-headed duo of Caden Johnson and Sampson Wilkemeyer found success throwing, nonetheless. Johnson and Wilkemeyer have been sharing the workload under center for the Trojans.
Head Coach Davin Thompson points to a ‘spark’ as the reasoning behind it, saying that Wilkemeyer can come in relief of Johnson if things aren’t going well to give the opposition a different look. It worked Thursday night, as Wilkemeyer connected with Dominick Corcoran for a 70-yard touchdown pass that gave the Trojans a 14-0 lead in the first half. Wilkemeyer finished 4/10 with 116 yards and a touchdown, while Johnson was 3/8 with 36 yards.
The defense had their best game to date, having two sacks, 10 tackles for a loss and four interceptions. Will Lafleur garnered two of those four. If the defense can continue that level of production, then there’s many more wins in the Trojans future.
An issue that remains for the Trojans, regardless of getting the win, is holding onto the ball. The offense fumbled seven times. While only losing two of them is a positive, the fumbles almost always result in a loss of yards on the play because they come from the center to quarterback exchange. In turn, instead of a 2nd down and manageable, the offense has to deal with 2nd and longs, 12, 15, 18 yards from the first down. It often times makes it hard to extend drives, and in turn, being forced to punt the ball back to the opponent. Thompson says that they need to do a better job of working on that during practice and took ownership for the mistakes.
The Trojans will look to go for back-to-back wins this Friday night when they host the Cotter Ramblers from Rushford-Peterson High School.
Head Coach for the Trojans, Davin Thompson, joined the WSN to discuss the win and how to keep the momentum rolling.
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