TROJAN FOOTBALL: Trojan FB looks for win over Redwood Valley

WORTHINGTON — If there is one thing any football coach knows it is that no matter how evenly matched two teams appear on paper, there is no telling how things will go once the teams hit the field.

“We match up really well on paper and it looks to be a very good game,” Trojan coach Brad Grimmius said. “But then again, paper doesn’t mean anything. It is what happens for those 48 minutes that are really going to matter.”

Last week, the Trojans lost to a still undefeated Marshall team on the road 49-0. With the loss, Worthington’s record dropped to 2-5 on the season.

“If you are not learning from week to week and getting better, you shouldn’t be playing,” Grimmius said. “We’ll hopefully take a big step forward this week with the Redwood game.”

Even though the Trojans didn’t play well against Marshall, there were a few bright spots Grimmius hopes will carry over to this week’s game against Redwood Valley.

“We did a few things right last week,” Grimmius said. “Our running backs played really well. Even though we didn’t rack up the yards, our fakes were the best that we’ve had so far. When they are getting tackled by two, three guys, that is two or three guys less we have to block.”

Athough the Trojans didn’t pick up many yards through the air last week, quarterback Blake Schroeder made big strides with in his play.

“Blake was throwing the ball well last week,” Grimmius said. “But we have to catch the ball. He was hitting receivers in the hands and they were dropping it. We don’t throw the ball very much, so when it hits you, you better catch it.”

One of the few areas of Worthington’s game that has been relatively consistent throughout the year has been the return game. Grimmius hopes that the return teams will be able to help give the Trojans an advantage against Redwood Valley.

“Our kick return team has still been really good for us,” Grimmius said. “Hopefully, coming in here they can bust one here against Redwood because they have been really close to doing that already.”

Defensively, Grimmius wishes his team will come out hitting hard and ready to play. If they do, he feels the team has a good chance of shutting down Redwood’s offense.

“We are hoping that we will come out hitting hard on defense,” Grimmius said. “They are basically going to spread us out sideline to sideline. It is going to stress our secondary, but our best secondary is our pass rush.”

If there is one thing that is going to make or break the Trojans this week, it would be the play of their offensive line.

“The big thing that will make a difference this week is offensive line,” Grimmius said. “Last year when we played them, we just got embarrassed up there.

“Our players know about it and we have to make sure we can answer their defense and block who they are going to bring. Hopefully our running backs hit the holes hard and make some big plays.”

The Trojans will take on Redwood Valley at 7 p.m. today at Trojan Field.

Daily Globe Reporter Jordan Willi

may be reached at 376-7335.

Tags: sports, prep, football, trojans