Traverse City Record-Eagle

Crosstown Showdown 2009

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    TC CENTRAL VS TC WEST
October 24, 2009

Trojans give history lesson

Trojans win second straight Crosstown Showdown

BY JAMES COOK

TRAVERSE CITY -- It was cold, it was rainy and was it ever muddy.

And in the middle of a rejoicing mass of Traverse City Central players and fans on Thirlby Field's torn-up turf after the Trojans' convincing 25-6 win over rival Traverse City West, you'd never know it.

The win marks the first time Central has defeated West in consecutive seasons, coming on the heels of last year's 21-14 victory.

"It feels awesome," junior Ben Broad said. "The seniors deserve it most of all. They worked the hardest and led us. Words cannot describe how it feels, especially when we had a crappy season and we ended up coming back like this and playing our best game of the season."

This game yielded little drama as in past meetings. On a damp night after several days of rain, Central (3-6) took control early and never let up, although West (4-5) scored a late touchdown to avoid the shutout.

The win improves Central's mark to 4-9 against West, and is the first time the Trojans have topped the Titans by more than one score. It was the most lopsided decision in the series since the 2002 Titans' 31-0 victory.

"I'm very happy for the seniors," Central coach Tom Passinault said. "It's been a tough year. I told them on Monday that we wanted to see them leave Thirlby with a smile on their face and they pulled it off. They played incredible. We executed, we got first downs when we had to and our defense played really well.

"Our secondary tackled really well. (West) had a couple plays outside where I thought they might break it, and we nailed them. West is a good football team, and I'm surprised how well we played against them defensively."

Central's defense -- which held the Titans to 39 yards in the first half -- was dominant. West didn't have a drive last more than 2:32 and didn't get a first down until there was 2:59 left in the half.

The Titans were hit hard by a flu outbreak that closed West Middle School this week. Eleven players -- including five starters -- missed the game and forced the team to shuffle personnel late in the week.

"We got just beat up," West coach Tim Wooer said. "The credit goes to Central. Yeah, we had some kids who were sick, but that's not why we lost."

West looked good very early on, as the Titan defense forced a three-and-out on Central's first drive, but West would fumble two plays into its initial drive, with Central's Nick Bruning coming up with the ball.

The Trojans then marched 50 yards in seven plays for the game's first score, capping the drive off with a Mack Sovereign 23-yard pass to Derrick Rudolph, who caught a pass in the flat and shot up the middle of West's defense.

The Trojans hit paydirt again on their fourth and fifth possessions of the game, going 55 yards in seven plays for a Sovereign floater over the Titans defense to Mike Heim early in the second quarter and Broad slipping two tackles and racing 28 yards with 3:07 left until halftime.

"We got our running game going and were very good at holding onto the ball," Broad said. "We didn't turn it over that much. Our running game set up our passing game and then we went right down the field."

Central held a 223-39 advantage in yardage at halftime and held the ball for more than 16 of the half's 24 minutes.

"We shut down everything they threw at us," said West linebacker Max Bollinger. "Nothing worked for them and our offense was on the field most of the game, which is great."

"Our linebackers did great keying on the guards," Broad said. "The secondary did great covering passes. We just did great overall on defense."

Central would extend an 18-0 halftime lead with a Rudolph run on a shovel pass to finish off another time-consuming, 10-play drive early in the fourth quarter to go up 25-0.

The Titans would ring up over half of their total offense for the game in their last drive, as Josh Klingelsmith broke loose for a 45-yard run and Zach Tucker finished off the drive with a 48-yard touchdown run with 1:22 remaining.

"It was a real team win," Bollinger said. "They got six points at the end, but in my mind, we shut them out. This is a great win to end my senior season. I'll never forget this."

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