Trojans battered by Storm, 55-0

The New Prague Trojan football team is still looking for its first win of the season after losing the annual Homecoming game to Chanhassen 55-0 Friday, Sept. 27.

            It was the second time the Trojans had given up 50 points this season, and according to the school’s football web site, it was the second-biggest margin of loss ever for a Trojan team, surpassed only by a 60-0 loss to Le Center in 1935.

            The Trojans (0-5, 0-4 Missota) will try to turn their season around Friday when they travel to Shakopee. The Sabers (3-2, 3-1 Missota) are in a three-way tie for second place in the Missota Conference with Chanhassen and Farmington, behind unbeaten Chaska. The Sabers defeated Northfield 22-16 Friday. Other Missota Conference games had Holy Angels defeating Red Wing 61-0 and Chaska beating Farmington 56-7.

            After Friday’s game, the Trojans have two more regular season games remaining, at home against Red Wing October 11 and at Chaska  on October 16.

            The Trojans’ troubles running the football continued Friday, with only one player having positive yardage on the ground. Josh Polson gained one yard on two carries. The rushing statistics were skewed due to eight quarterback sacks by the Chanhassen defense as quarterback Ty Johnson had a net minus-47 yards rushing. The Trojans were minus-52 rushing on the night.

            Johnson did have some success through the air, though, completing 15-of-24 passes for 137 yards. Ben Buthe caught seven of those balls for 63 yards, with JT Butler catching five for 50. Nathan Zweber two for 21 and Jake Klein one for 3 yards.

            The Trojan defense allowed Chanhassen  to score on its first possession, capped by a 6-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the game.

            The Storm were forced to punt on their next possession and fumbled later in the first quarter, giving the Trojans good field position. However they couldn’t convert and Chanhassen took over on downs. The Storm drove for another score, converting on a 26-yard pass to make it 14-0 with 1:59 left in the quarter

            New Prague began to show signs of life in the second quarter, stopping Chan and putting a drive together into Storm territory, but the game was all but decided in a 15-second span of the third quarter. Chanhassen scored on a 51-yard run with 4:27 left, then after a New Prague turnover, the Storm converted on an 18-yard run with 4:12 remaining to make it 28-0. The Storm would score again with 30 seconds left to take a 35-0 halftime lead.

            Chanhassen added two more touchdowns in the third and one in the fourth for the final 55-0 margin.

            The Storm gained 452 yards, with 426 of them coming on the ground. They attempted only two passes, completing the one for the touchdown.

            Chanhassen punted just two times and lost one fumble. The Trojans, on the other hand, punted seven times, lost a fumble and threw two interceptions.

            Defensively, Peter Molitor led the team in tackles with six. Mitch Gullickson had 5.5, Buthe had five, Joe Heinz had four and Logan Dykstra and Zweber 3.5 each.

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