Trailblazers Clinch District Title with Blowout of Eagles
Posted on Oct. 19th, 2012
Four weeks after a third consecutive loss dropped them to 1-3, the Gardner-Edgerton Trailblazers celebrated a fourth straight win and a 6A District Championship with a 59-28 drubbing of Olathe North.
The Trailblazers bolted out to a 28-0 lead and--except for two tense moments when the lead was cut to 14--the game was never really in doubt.
Right from the beginning, the Trailblazer offense asserted its dominance when junior running back Traevohn Wrench went 58-yards on the first play from scrimmage. 19-seconds into the contest, GE was up by seven.
After a punt from North's Ju'Wan White pinned the Trailblazers deep in their own territory at the 6-yardline, the Blazers used a sustained, methodical drive to score their second touchdown. The Blazers got some breathing room when Wrench broke free for 12-yards, and that was followed up by a 42-yard pass from junior quarterback Jared Hobby to sophomore tight end Josh Lang.
Hobby used his legs to keep the drive alive when he scrambled for 13-yards on 3rd-and-11, and the drive was capped by a Hobby touchdown pass to Lang from 15-yards out.
Two more Wrench touchdown runs--one from 8-yards and one from 72-yards--put the Blazers up by four scores midway through the second quarter, at which point the Eagles had just one first down.
The Eagles managed just 41-yards on their first five drives, but they were able to find the end zone on the following drive, when senior Elbert Johnson broke free for a 36-yard touchdown run.
It didn't take long for Wrench to counter that, however. On the third play of the ensuing Blazer drive, he went 72-yards to extend the Blazer lead to 35-7.
"It was a physical game. Coach said it would be. We prepared this week for this game. My line is on a roll right now, so I give all the credit to them," Wrench said.
The Trailblazers left just 58-seconds on the clock after their fifth touchdown, but North only needed 42 of them. Senior quarterback Dontez Sanchez went up top to sophomore Josh Moore, who lept over the defenders and game down with the Eagles' second touchdown of the game. After falling down 28-0 in about 18-minutes of game time, the Eagles had a modicum of hope, down 35-14 at halftime.
The Eagles cut the Trailblazer lead to 14 twice in the second half, but any promise of a North comeback was quickly extinguished on both occasions.
After a 71-yard pass from Sanchez to junior Julian Winton cut it to 35-21, the Blazers put together an 80-yard drive capped by a Hobby 1-yard touchdown run.
North then made it 42-28 when senior Jake Reed returned a Hobby interception for a touchdown, but Wrench broke free again two plays later for a 76-yard score.
"It took us a while to run enough plays to get into the formations that we really would to give us the best opportunity, and then they made quick adjustments and we had to go elsewhere," said Gardner-Edgerton Head Coach Marvin Diener. "Ultimately, the difference for us to be able to score the whole second half was that we were able to throw the football. They absolutely forced us to do that with where they put people, and Jared’s very capable."
The Blazers would score two more times. Their final touchdown came on Hobby pass to Lang, and then junior kicker Tim Mitchell added a field goal.
"[Olathe North Coach] Gene [Wier] did a great job with his boys. Their boys played incredibly hard against us. It was a physical, hard knocking game," Diener said.
Wrench finished with 362-yards and five touchdowns on 34 carries. Hobby was 10/16 passing for 227-yards and two scores. Hobby also ran for another touchdown. In all, the Blazers had 688-yards of total offense.
The Trailblazers now sit at 5-3 on the season, with a 2-0 record in district play. They will play host to the Ravens of Olathe Northwest (2-6, 0-2) in the final game of the regular season. Olathe North (2-6, 1-1) will play at Olathe South (5-3, 1-1) to determine the final playoff spot from the district. Both games are scheduled for Friday, October 26th at 7:00 p.m.
E-mail >>>
Printable Page >>>
RSS >>>