In a game that had momentum swings like the pendulum on a grandfather clock, National Trail won an exciting, come from behind victory over Tri County North 28-21 last Friday night. The Blazers thrilled the home crowd erasing a one point deficit by scoring a touchdown on 4th down with 1:15 left in the game. Jamison Watts found his favorite receiver Joey Roberts for a 13 yard TD pass that proved to be the winning score. North got one last chance with the ball but the Blazer defense blanketed the receivers while the D Line harassed the TCN quarterback. Josh Welz finished any hope for a North comeback, sacking the QB on 3 of their last 4 plays.
A quick start by both teams opened WOAC play on a hot and humid night. Trail hit quick when Jody Wintrow raced 46 yards to the endzone on the opening drive of the game. But North answered with a three play drive that gave them the lead 7-6 after only 3 minutes of the game was played. The score stayed the same until Jamison Watts picked up a TCN fumble and went 75 yards for the score. The half ended with the Blazers up 12-7.
The Trail lead grew when Watts went 61 yards for a TD on the Blazers first possession of the 2nd half. But as this night went, North came back with two unanswered TDs and the momentum, taking the lead 21-20 with 3:34 left to go in the game. NT got a good kickoff return to start their last ditch drive 45 yards from the goaline. The O Line lead the way for NT to get into scoring territory however a holding penalty backed the offense up for a 3rd and 20 situation. A 10 yard run led to 4th down on the 13 yard line where Watts and Roberts hooked up for the winning score.
Statistically the NT offense gained over 350 yards and rushed for over 275 yards for the 2nd week in a row. A lot of the credit must go to the offensive live and receivers blocking downfield to get our running backs into the open field. Watts ended the night with 138 yards on the ground and 50% completions as a QB. Jody Wintrow had 77 yards and Chase Ruebush had 64 on a night that he gave a gutty performance while not being 100%. Roberts had 4 catches including the game winner. The defense played against one of the most explosive running games in WOAC holding their QB and FB in check most of the night. Watts led the team in tackles with 12 and 2 fumble recoveries while Josh Welz had 10 tackles including 4 sacks.
The Blazers move their overall record to 1-1, 1-0 in the WOAC. Next week they will host Preble Shawnee with a 7pm kickoff on September 1st.
