Tosa West Trojans Dominate New Berlin West Vikings 49 - 6, Playoff Hopes Still Alive

Running back coaches use time-tested advice like “run down-hill”, “go north and south,” and a favorite, “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”

Well, on Friday night Oct 3 Demaris Purifoy, the biggest star of the Tosa West offense, used a different strategy: he went sideways, used cutbacks, threw in several spins and maybe a few hip-hop moves. The result was a performance that may have been one of the year’s most dominant, as he finished the game with 281 yards and six touchdowns on 25 carries. His performance earned him area football “Athlete of the Week” honors by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.

In the first quarter the Trojan offense and defense were clicking. Purifoy scored on a quick hitter and a Tosa West pick led to a 30 yard zipper run by Purifoy through the New Berlin West defense.

In the first drive of the second quarter, Demaris powered his way over three Vikings and made a great cutback move against the grain of the defense, completing a 45 yard run to the house, and the Trojans were in the lead 21-0.

After the Vikings scored their only points of the night on a QB keeper up the middle of the field, the Trojan offense was back on the field and in two carries Demaris Purifoy found the end zone again – and the score was 28-6.

After a strong defensive stand the Trojan offense was back on the field. They made cursory efforts to mix things up – but with the success Purifoy and the entire o-line were having, hard to find fault with success. The Trojans did attempt three passes – all in the first half – but for the first time in memory the Trojans failed to complete a pass. Demaris ran for one more score and it was 34-6 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Tosa West defense continue to shine, with seniors making stellar plays. Christian Cagle had a solo, drive-stopping tackle for a loss. Christian Morzinski had a solo sack of the QB, and later defensive back Arrion Dixon was in great position and picked off the Viking QB. After exchanging possession, the second pick of the quarter came from Zach Veit, back this week after a leg injury. Zach makes the defense click from his safety position and leads the team in tackles.

Team tackling was special for Tosa West – with senior Blake Braxton and sophomore Javaree Jackson anchoring several pile ups. Before the quarter ended, senior linebacker Matt Lundell was near a pile up and alertly picked off a pop-out fumble. Late in the quarter, Lundell and junior Curtis Oglesby teamed up on a sandwich sack that helped get the Trojan offense back on the field.

Second half scoring for the Trojans came on runs by Purifoy and junior Kobe Vines. Kobe and a committee of runners, including Paris Howell and Truman Tyson added a combined 100 additional yards of rushing offense to the 384 yard team total.

Tosa West Homecoming is October10 against Shorewood-Messmer (1-6 overall), a non-conference Woodland East/West “crossover” game. Then the Trojans finish the regular conference season in a crossover game October 17 away against Greenfield (4-3 currently). Winning is a necessity if the Trojans hope to remain eligible for the state Division 2 playoffs.

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