(Tucson, AZ)
Bill McCulloch
During the week of practice going into Friday night’s game, both Empire and Catalina had to make some drastic adjustments to their defensive schemes as both squads got blown out last week.
Catalina was humbled 42-0 against Sabino in a much hyped contest of one loss teams facing off.
Empire ran into the buzzsaw of league leading Pusch Ridge and went quietly 56-14.
This game was touted as the speed of Catalina’s outside receivers with strong armed junior quarterback Malik Martin, against the unconventional offense of Empire and their 1-2 punch of running backs Wyatt Jeffries and Jalen Smith.
In the opening quarter, the Ravens had success moving the ball, but the penalty bug stopped them cold in a couple of drives. Still at the end of one quarter, Empire had a 13-0 lead.
Catalina had equal success moving the ball with some spectacular throws and catches downfield as Malik Martin burned the Empire secondary on few occasions. Their albatross was several key drops of passes on the money that thwarted drives.
In the second quarter, Trojan Head Coach Joey Butler continued to air it out as the boys of Troy scored two touchdowns to take a brief lead 14-13.
Slightly rattled but still confident, the Ravens ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Trojan twelve yard line and scored two plays later to take back the lead 19-14 going into halftime after not converting their second extra point try.
During halftime, in making game adjustments is the one area where Raven Head Coach W.T. Jeffries excels and is one of the best in Southern Arizona.
Without the services of star running back Wyatt Jeffries, who was ejected earlier on a retaliation action, the Ravens turned to Junior running back Jalen Smith who almost single handedly put the Trojans in check with his slashing running style and amazing cutback ability to score three touchdowns and rushed for 186 yards on fourteen carries.
The Trojans didn’t have an answer in the second half and were worn down by the Wing T Offense that Empire deploys.
Homecoming is up next Friday for the Ravens as they’ll host winless Santa Rita in Vail.
The Trojans get a much needed bye week as they prepare to do battle with the league leading Pusch Ridge Lions at home on October 20th.
Shed no tears for the Trojans, they are in fact the 3A South’s best turnaround team this season, as Coach Joey Butler has worked his Florida Football magic coming off an 0-10 season last year to be very competitive week after week as proof of his 5-3 record.
