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Sunday, September 6, 2009 9:47 PM CDT
COLUMN: Tough weekend turns out a winner
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
Relegated to a lawn chair rather than his usual roaming the sideline, George Halsey was not about to miss a Charleston football game after spending the previous night hospitalized by a mild heart attack.
Thank goodness the Trojan Booster Club’s Red & Gold Barbecue pushed Charleston’s game against Olney to Saturday or a doctor might have had a big argument on his hand keeping the father of Charleston’s football coach Brian Halsey away from Trojan Hill Friday night. Of course, after years of his volunteer work you could say the booster club owed George Halsey this little favor.
George must be recovering all right.
Saturday’s 42-27 Charleston win over Olney was one that tested the hearts of many.
“It tested our manhood,” was how fullback Austen Pankey put it.
One week after starting the season with a 28-21 overtime non-conference loss at Taylorville, the Trojans had to deal with these tests like these win their Apollo Conference opener:
-- Olney drove 55 yards on six plays for a touchdown on the game’s first possession.
-- Backed up to Charleston’s 17-yard line when linebacker Matt Simpson tackled Olney quarterback Brandon Bailey after an errant shotgun snap, the Tigers on fourth-down-and-goal-to-go came through with Bailey’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Stephan Levitt in the back of the end zone allowing Olney to tie the game 14-14 in the second quarter.
-- After Charleston sophomore linebacker Chris Creek’s 51-yard pass interception return for a touchdown provided a 35-21 lead and what might have seemed like the turning point to break Olney’s back with 5:43 left in the third quarter, the Tigers instead answered with Dirk Washburn’s 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown signaling this thing was going to be a struggle into the final minutes.
-- Charleston’s lone turnover of the night came in the fourth quarter giving Olney some hope when trailing by eight points.
-- The Trojans totaled 12 penalties for 99 yards.
“It may not have been pretty but it’s satisfying,” Brian Halsey said. “With everything I’ve been through the last 24 hours and everything the kids have been through this week, we’ll take it.”
You can give Olney senior quarterback Brandon Bailey and his junior receivers credit after a 288-yard passing night.
Certainly, Halsey also knows he has some things to fix for his own team’s defense.
“I was disappointed in the first half defensively,” said the head coach who this year is coordinating his team’s defense.
Of course, the Trojans also had their positives.
“We had some solid performances,” Halsey said. “(Receiver) Adam Drake and (quarterback) Levi (Ebbert) played well. The line blocked well. All four linebackers play well — Chris Creek, Kody French, Matt Simspon and Paden Eveland.”
Most importantly, this has the Trojans 1-0 in the Apollo heading into Friday’s game at defending champion Mount Zion.
“It starts us off right,” Pankey said. “We just want the gold ball at the end of the season.”
Certainly, to get that Apollo trophy with the gold football, the Trojans are likely to face tougher tests than an Olney team that was 2-7 last year.
But considering George Halsey was among those going into the locker room congratulating his son’s team Saturday night, what more could the Trojans ask right now.
Brian Nielsen is sports editor of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact him at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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