TRAIL TAKES DOWN NORTH

NEW PARIS — In a hard hitting game that saw both teams have players leave the field with injuries, National Trail rolled to a big 38-20 victory Friday over Tri-County North. A huge crowd attended the game thanks to free admission sponsored by T-Mobile as part of its “Friday Night 5G Lights” program. At halftime T-Mobile presented a check totaling $25,000 to Trail Athletics Director Troy Ferguson. National Trail High School has been named one of just 25 finalists nationwide — and the only school in Ohio — for T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights competition, a national program that celebrates schools using high school football to unite their communities. Trail now has a shot at the $1 million grand prize, which would bring major upgrades to the school’s football field and facilities. To win, the community must vote daily through Oct. 24 at Click Here . Each email address can cast one vote per day. The Blazers took an early 7-0 lead on a 13-yard run by Grady Ott and a Jacob Farno point after kick. North answered with a 72-yard TD run by Peyton Fannin. A two-point conversion run failed as Trail held the lead, 7-6. North took the lead 14-7 with Fannin breaking free for a 47-yard TD run with Aiden Ritchie scoring on a two-point conversion run. Trail countered with a three-yard TD run by Jody Wintrow, who led the Blazers with 117 yards on 19 carries. Farno’s kick tied it 14-14. Trail took a 21-14 lead on an eight-yard TD run by Talon Bousman (seven carries, 75 yards) and the PAT by Farno, who also added a field goal to give the Blazers a 24-14 lead at the half. North’s offense lost its punch in the second half when Fannin sustained a possible concussion and was removed from the game for precautionary reasons. Trail boosted its lead to 31-14 in the third stanza on a 14-yard TD run by Ott and the point after by Farno. North scored on a three-yard run by quarterback Luke Baughman but a two-point conversion attempt failed as Trail maintained a 31-20 advantage. Trail quarterback Aidan Martin (eight carries, 59 yards) scored on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter and Farno added the point after to make the final tally 38-20. With the win the Blazers improved to 2-4 in conference play and 2-5 overall. North fell to 2-4 and 2-5. “It was good to see our kids overcome some adversity. Typically with an opponent scoring some points we tend to hang our heads and not be able to get back in rhythm,” said Trail coach Eric Wolfe. “We knew our offensive line was doing a great job moving people and creating some holes, so we just had to keep doing what we were doing, keep our heads up and trust the process. It was good to see that happen and play as a team.” National Trail racked up 335 yards rushing as a result of the good blocking. “We knew Peyton Fannin for Tri-County North had a lot of speed at that it was going to be an issue, and he was. He lived up to that and was hard to contain,” Wolfe said. Before getting injured Fannin carried the ball four times for 120 yards, including TD runs of 72 and 47 yards. “After those first couple scores I said, ‘Hey – this might be an old Big 12 game with both teams trading punches all the way to the end.’ We won the physical battle and I told the players that if we win the battle up front, we can win this game and I think they really bought into that and I was really proud of us putting a whole game together. We hadn’t done that all season,” Wolfe stated. Coach Wolfe was happy about the T-Mobile check presentation and all the fans that showed up, but he told his players to block out all the distractions and finish the game out as if the score was still 0-0. “We just told the kids to block out the distractions and that we needed to keep our foot on the gas pedal because there was still a lot of football left to play,” Wolfe added. “Our big saying all year has been ‘brick-by-brick’ and I said it’s not built yet. We still have bricks to stack. The kids are buying into that and we had a good team effort and I was glad to see us come together.” North managed to generate 321 total yards in the loss. Luke Baughman complete eight of 14 pass attempts for 78 yards. In addition to Fannin’s 120 rushing yards, Mason Givens had 35 on 11 carries, Aiden Ritchie 70 on 11 carries and Franklin Filbrun 19 on three carries. Injuries were a key factor in the Panthers coming up short against the Blazers. North started the game with 22 players dressed and finished with about 17, but only one injury is going to be a semi-lengthy injury. The rest were kind of precautionary and temporary, according to North coach Nick Bandstra. “It was a tough matchup against another good football team that has had to deal with injuries just like us,” Bandstra said. “I think we are still headed in the right direction and we still have a lot to play for. “Obviously, with our big rivalry game with Twin Valley South at the end of the season and we still have to face Preble Shawnee and Mississinawa Valley – those are opportunities for us to not only get better but to improve on our past years performances of only three wins so we still have a shot of winning four or five games this year,” Bandstra noted. “We still have a chance of winning our big rivalry game and as I have said, I am looking forward to continuing to work with our kids,” Bandstra added. “I am looking forward to being a part of that rivalry game for the first time and I think we will do good. South has a really good coach and I think it will be a really good game. We are headed in the right direction. We just have to get healthy.” Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email Rnunnari@aimmediamidwest.com.