Trenton Eliminates Wyandotte, Advances to Regional Final

Revenge was sweet for Thursday night as the Trojans beat 6-0 in the second round of pre-regionals at .

Almost one year ago to the day, Roosevelt (7-17-0-2) defeated Trenton (20-4-1-1) in a 2011 pre-regional game, an early exit for a Trojans team that was seeking a fourth consecutive Division 2 state title.

This season, however, determination to avoid another letdown against the Bears helped lead the Trojans to victory Thursday night, Trenton head coach Mike Turner said.

“This year we said ‘not this time',” Turner said. “We wanted to be the better team and we didn’t want to let it get away from us.”

The Trojans grabbed an early lead Thursday night as sophomore Andrew Sawyer put his team up 1-0 with a shot past Wyandotte sophomore goaltender Frank Cerulla at the 3:34 mark.

Trenton’s stellar defense limited Roosevelt’s scoring chances in the first period, and throughout the game. When the Bears did get a few opportunities, the Trojans’ senior goaltender, , kept the puck out of the net all night, stopping all 31 shots he faced.

With about two minutes left in the first period, Trenton took a two-goal advantage when junior Brenden Torolski scored his third goal of the season. Torolski’s goal resulted in Roosevelt head coach Mike Quint benching Cerulla in favor of junior goaltender Dalan Bulchak. 

The netminder shakeup, however, wasn’t enough to halt Trenton’s momentum. Late in the second period, the Trojans scored two goals, back-to-back, that essentially put the game out of reach.

The first of the two second-period goals came from senior Michael Lesko at 13:12, while senior Cory Seychel lit the lamp only 21 seconds later to make it 4-0 in favor of Trenton.

In the third period, the Trojans added two more goals, another from Lesko and a goal from sophomore Justin Howard, which was only his second of the year. 

Despite the lopsided victory Thursday night by the Trojans, and Roosevelt’s 2011-12 struggles, Wojtala still had high praise for the Bears following the game.

“It feels pretty good (to beat Wyandotte), Wojtala said. “They played pretty good out there. They’re a good team, a good cross-town rival.”

A Look Ahead

Trenton's quest for its 14th state title in school history continues Saturday night with a regional final game against Livonia Franklin at 7 p.m. at Wyandotte's . If the Trojans win, they would then take on either Ann Arbor Pioneer or Hartland in a quarterfinal game, scheduled for March 6 in Ann Arbor.

Scoring