Friday, October 16, 2009 11:07 PM CDT
Trojans watch upset bid fade
By SCOTT RICHEY, Staff Writer
sports@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Effingham quarterback Alex Steppe’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Fulk was the second consecutive stake driven into the Charleston football team.
Fulk’s touchdown reception came with 53 seconds remaining in Friday’s game, and it gave the Flaming Hearts a 26-21 victory at Trojan Hill.
Fulk’s touchdown was eerily reminiscent of the Trojans’ last-minute defeat last week at Salem. The Trojans led nearly the entire game before Effingham was able to drive nearly 75 yards in just less than four minutes and score the clinching touchdown.
Charleston had about 40 seconds for its final possession, but Levi Ebbert (playing with an injury to his non-throwing arm nearly the entire game) was not able to move the Trojans down the field.
“That’s a heartbreaker,” Charleston coach Brian Halsey said. “We were getting the breaks. Lady Luck was on our side, and we used it up.”
Even with the second heartbreaking loss in a row – this time ending the Trojans’ chances for a possible playoff berth – Halsey was both proud and hurting for his team.
“My heart is heavy for these kids,” Halsey said. “They gave this family everything they had. We were supposed to get rolled, and we were 53 seconds away from getting the job done. Our seniors really stepped up. They did a tremendous job of getting us focused and prepared for this week.”
Charleston got the momentum from the opening play when the Trojans were able to recover a Chris Creek onside kick on the opening kickoff. Ebbert finished off the Trojans’ first offensive drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Adam Drake.
“We wanted to get our crowd involved,” Halsey said about the decision to start with an onside kick. “We wanted to get momentum early. The onside kick worked great. We set the tone.”
The Trojans added to their lead in the second quarter on another big completion from Ebbert; this time throwing for 24 yards and a score to a wide open Joe Fricke in the left corner of the end zone. Fricke bobbled the ball stepping backward into the end zone but was able to hold on for the touchdown.
Ebbert was also able to produce with his legs in the first half, including a 37-yard burst down the left sideline on a designed quarterback keeper out of a five wide receiver set. Ebbert also hurt his shoulder on that play when he was tackled out of bounds and landed on it trying to evade the Effingham defender.
“He’s a tough kid,” Halsey said about Ebbert. “We wanted to get him out the game, but he didn’t want to come out.”
Effingham gained the majority of its yardage on the ground despite its two biggest plays coming on touchdown passes–Fulk’s game winner and Kyle Garland’s 48-yard touchdown receptions in the second quarter. Despite success through the air, senior running back Jaron Allred led the Flaming Hearts with 174 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 26 carries. Garland added 61 yards rushing to Effingham’s offense primarily on sweep plays, and the Flaming Hearts ended the game with 264 yards rushing as a team.
“Defensively our kids did a great job,” Halsey said. “They’re a big-play offense, and they hit four big plays.”
Kody French led the Trojans in rushing with 109 yards on 17 carries, and senior fullback Austen Pankey scored Charleston’s other touchdown on a 4-yard rush.
Charleston is scheduled to return to action on Oct. 23 with its final game of the season against Highland at 7 p.m. at Trojan Hill.
Effingham 0 12 0 14 -26
Charleston 7 7 7 0 -21
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
Chas - Adam Drake 21 pass from Levi Ebbert (Quinn Hussey kick), 8:32
Second Quarter
Chas - Joe Fricke 24 pass from Levi Ebbert (Quinn Hussey kick), 10:12
Eff - Jaron Allred 1 run (2-pt conversion failed), 6:45
Eff - Kyle Garland 48 pass from Alex Steppe (2-pt conversion failed), 1:33
Third Quarter
Chas - Austen Pankey 4 run (Quinn Hussey kick), 7:02
Fourth Quarter
Eff - Jaron Allred 11 run (2-pt conversion good), 8:10
Eff - Ethan Fulk 37 pass from Alex Steppe (2-pt conversion no good), 0:53
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Charleston: L.J. Welsh 11-18; Kody French 17-109; Austen Pankey 5-15, TD; Levi Ebbert 10-51
Effingham: Jaron Allred 26-174, 2 TD; Kyle Garland 7-61; Ethan Fulk 3-10; Alex Steppe 7-20
Passing
Charleston: Levi Ebbert 7-14-0-97, 2 TD; Kris Wesley 0-1-1-0
Effingham: Alex Steppe 4-9-0-106, 2 TD
Receiving
Charleston: Adam Drake 4-68, TD; Dylan Doughty 1-4; Joe Fricke 1-24, TD; Austen Pankey 1-11
Effingham: Jaron Allred 1-14; Kyle Garland 1-48, TD; Ethan Fulk 2-44, TD
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
