Pewaukee Outruns Tosa West Trojans 23-7 in Rain-Soaked Woodland Matchup

The Tosa West Trojans dropped their second Woodland West Conference game on Friday Sept 12, falling to Pewaukee at home 23-7. The Trojan record now is 0-2 conference, 2-2 overall.

The Trojans started the game by throwing an interception. Pewaukee got the ball in good field position and scored on a 19 yard run within the first two minutes of the game, and the score was 7-0.

The Trojan offense decided to stick to the ground and was stymied by the stout line and linebacker play of the Pirates. Senior Zach Veit had plenty of punt attempts – he and sophomore long snapper Logan Scharf did an excellent job handling the ball in the rain.

On their next defensive series Tosa West again had their hands full with the Pirate running attack. Senior interior lineman Christian Morzinski made a stellar stop in the Pewaukee backfield, then teamed up with fellow senior Devin Tucker for a quarterback sack and the Pirates were forced to punt.

On offense, the Trojans mixed up their running game and had success. Senior standout Demaris Purifoy gained 20 as he scampered down the Pirate sideline. Demaris finished the game with 209 yards rushing on 26 carries. On the next play, fellow senior Andre Carroll used speed to split two defenders, gained 15 yards and another first down.

At the start of the second quarter, Tosa West looked like they would keep the peddle-to-the-metal, as senior Paris Howell kept things moving with a sterling run through traffic and another first down. Then the Trojans suffered mistakes and bad breaks. They moved backward with holding and delay-of-game penalties. Those were followed with a Zach Veit field-goal attempt that hit the upright and failed, and the Pirates had the ball back.

From there, it was like a game of keep away. Pewaukee ate up clock with run after run, and finally scored with just over a minute left to extend their lead to 14-0 at half time.

There was no scoring in the third quarter. The Trojans played well on defense – with senior Matt Lundell making a nice solo tackle in the Pirate backfield. For the second game in a row Zach Veit was a touchdown-preventing machine from his safety position. Unfortunately for Tosa West, when the safety is making that many plays against the run, the defense just isn’t performing up to par. West needed a play, and late in the quarter junior James Canady made it – a timely fumble recovery to give the Trojan offense new life.

But when Tosa West had the ball they were mostly ineffective on the ground and reluctant to throw the ball. Several punts later the quarter ended with the score still 14-0.

Fourth quarter keys were a field goal and running touchdown by Pewaukee. The Trojans tried to muster a pass game and finally had success with about a minute left, when senior Arrion Dixon caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Rayvon Bartlett Jr, and the final score was 23-7.

This Friday Tosa West is at home against New Berlin Eisenhower. The Trojans are due for a great game, and they’ll try and avenge last year’s overtime loss at Ike that almost kept them out of the playoffs.