Motivated Trojans almost too much for Poquoson to handle

New Kent's Brian Gray wrestles Poquoson ball carrier Nathan Ward to the ground as teammates Tyler Helms (1) and Peter Stano close in to help.

Alan Chamberlain photo

An inspired effort in front of a large, enthusiastic homecoming crowd placed New Kent’s Trojans within reach of a shocking football upset over Poquoson’s highly touted Islanders. The hosts matched the visitors blow-for-blow in Friday night’s first half, forging a 7-7 tie at intermission.

A pair of potential Trojan touchdown drives in the second half, however, went for naught. Poquoson, meanwhile, added three scores to gradually pull away for a 28-7 victory.

The contest bore little resemblance to recent New Kent games in which the Trojans, entering with only one win this season, have been blown out in the first half and the second half clock runs without interruption. Trojan head coach Dan Rounds credited the turnaround to his players.

“They did it,” he said. “We had some adversity this week and dissention among the ranks and some passion. But we’ve got players who really care and want to do their best. They let that be known tonight.”

The game didn’t start that way, though. On their game opening possession, the Trojans were flagged for three straight false starts before they could run a play. Then after taking a punt, the Islanders drove 47 yards for a 7-0 lead, giving New Kent faithful the sinking feeling that another rout was in the making.

But the Trojans responded, embarking on a nine-play, 62-yard march culminating in John Elswick’s six-yard touchdown run behind the center of his offensive line. Peter Stano’s placement knotted the score at 7-all with 2:36 left in the first quarter.
New Kent’s defense then turned back Poquoson drives for the remainder of the half, forcing a 34-yard field goal try that fell short and recovering Islander fumbles on the guests’ final two series.

The visitors moved in front 14-7 early in the third quarter, but New Kent answered with another drive into Islander territory. A tie appeared imminent when wideout R.J. Morris raced past defensive back Cole Walker as quarterback Trent Orie launched a fourth down pass toward the end zone from 38 yards out. On the run inside the 10 yard line and five yards ahead of Walker, Morris attempted an over-the-shoulder grab of Orie’s aerial but the ball caught his shoulder pad on the right side and fell behind him to the turf.

Poquoson then drove the other way to go up 21-7, but New Kent refused to fold, driving deep into Islander territory for first and goal at the visitors’ 4 yard line. Unfortunately, the hosts could not make further headway before running out of downs.

“They say football is lost on less than five plays and those were two of them,” Rounds said, pointing to the incomplete pass and failure to convert in the red zone. “If we had those two plays, we would have been right in the game.”

The Trojans, now 1-6, finished with 197 yards on the ground. Orie led the way on 28 carries for 119 yards while Elswick ran 17 times for 39 tough yards. Orie completed three of six passes for 25 yards, and the Trojans managed 13 first downs.