Few Positives for Trojans in Season Opening Loss

Despite losing the season opener to Lockport High School (1-0) 21-33, (0-1) showed some positive signs in its passing game Friday night.

Senior quarterback Riley McGinnis completed 15 of 30 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns.

“We knew coming into tonight’s game we were going to have to pass a lot,” McGinnis said. “I think we did a good job.”

After starting off the game with a quick interception that was returned for a touchdown, McGinnis quickly recovered. On the ensuing drive he connected with junior receiver Stephen Kanis for a 44-yard touchdown completion, bringing the game to a 7-7 tie.

Kanis and fellow junior Garrett Tierney were McGinnis’ favorite targets in Friday’s game. Combined the juniors racked up 174 receiving yards on 10 catches and each finished with a touchdown reception.

“Those are my junior receivers,” McGinnis said approvingly. “We worked a lot together over the summer.”

But despite a solid passing attack, the Trojans were only able to pick up 82 yards rushing. This was one reason the Trojans were forced to pass or punt on short conversion attempts.

Trojan’s head coach John Wander wasn't optimistic about the team’s performance, feeling they made too many big mistakes.

“We weren’t producing in crunch time,” Wander said. “I don’t know if you can call it complacency this early in this season, but that’s what it seemed like. I can tell you we will be in full pads with a regular practice tomorrow morning.”

All three of Lockport High School’s scores in the first half came after Trojan miscues. After a quick interception put the Trojans down 0-7, a fumbled handoff between McGinnis and sophomore running back Kyle Leto four possessions later led to another Lockport score.

During the ensuing Trojan’s drive, a blocked punt by Lockport linebacker Brad Johnson allowed teammate Ted Snidanko to recover the ball on the Trojan’s 15-yard line. Lockport quickly capitalized off the good field position and the Trojans went into the half down 7-20.

After the break, the Trojan's defense stepped up pressure and made Lockport punt two times from inside their own 15-yard line.

“We came out in the second half and we shut them down,” Wander said. "But we didn’t gain momentum, we actually lost momentum.”

After a quick touchdown by Trojan’s running back Brandon Salter, his team again gave up the big play.

Following the score, Lockport running back Taylor Dexter returned the kickoff 60 yards to the Trojan’s 32-yard line. From that point on, Lockport, on the back of Dexter, quite literally ran away with the game.

Dexter made a 32-yard touchdown run following his kickoff return look easy against the Trojan defense. On the next Lockport possession, Dexter took it to the house from 55 yards away to give Lockport more than enough points to win the game.

“Everything came naturally to me,” Dexter said about his big performance. “I just found my holes and stepped behind my linemen. They did a tremendous job blocking, and I’m getting them donuts tomorrow.”

Dexter finished the night with 133 yards and three touchdowns.

The Trojans will look to even up their record when they take on Morton next Friday in the Trojan's home opener.