By Brian Livingston
On a night where the temperature was finally perfect for football and stadium blankets, the Northeast Lauderdale Trojans (6-3, 2-1) took a big step in the Region 5-4A playoff hunt with a convincing 19-3 win against the Northeast Jones Tigers (1-7, 1-2).
Trojan coach Steve Nelson said earlier this week his team couldn't afford to take the Tigers lightly knowing, despite their record, the Tigers still had some bite left in them.
"Our defense grew up tonight," Nelson said after his team all but shut down the Tiger offense. "I'm an old-school kind of coach so I firmly believe you win championships with defense first."
But it doesn't hurt to have Marquez Hopson running your offense either.
Hopson, who along with other Trojan seniosr were honored before the kickoff of the game on Senior Night, amassed 67 yards rushing and two touchdown throws in the second quarter to break open a scoreless game.
"Hopson is a very good player and we knew that going in," Northeast Jones coach Bubba Hathorn said. "He really hurt us."
After both teams spent much of the first quarter trading possessions with nothing to show for their efforts, Hopson and his offensive line began to take over the game.
From his own 29-yard line, Hopson fell in behind the big boys out of the trenches with runs of 25, 15 and 12 yards. But it was his arm that finally got the first points on the board for the Trojans.
Nelson, sensing his offense had finally come untracked, put the ball in Hopson's hands on a fourth-and-goal from the Tiger 5. Hopson rolled to his right and found junior wide receiver Vance Miller alone in the end zone for the touchdown. The PAT failed but Northeast Lauderdale had found the momentum they were looking for.
The Tigers just could not get their power running game untracked as the Trojans seemed to be everywhere, gang-tackling and harassing quarterbacks Alec Barlow and Juwan Lawrence.
"Every time we seemed to get moving we'd have a penalty or just plain bog down," Hathorn said. "Our offense is struggling right now and we've got to get that fixed."
Northeast Lauderdale took over at midfield with about 5:30 left in the half. From there, Hopson hit Maurice Terrell over the middle. Terrell made an acrobatic catch to haul in the 22-yard strike down to the Tiger 28. But with a first down at the NEJ 18 one play later, the Trojans began going backwards. Three consecutive penalties moved them to the Tiger 29 but that didn't seem to worry Hopson.
Dropping back on third down, Hopson found Ben Brooks over the middle at the 10. Brooks then skirted three Tiger defenders to the endzone. The PAT again failed but NEL held a 12-0 advantage.
Northeast Jones was able to put a field goal on the board to cut into the Trojan lead with 6.5 seconds remaining in the half.
At the end of the third quarter the score still stood 12-3. But Brooks, playing cornerback, would put the Trojans in excellent field position after intercepting Barlow at the NEJ 47 and returning it to the 33.
At the 4:02 mark, Hopson would add his first running touchdown to his tally sheet from 4 yards out. This time the PAT was good and the Trojans had all but iced the game away 19-3 on a chilly night at home.
A dejected Hathorn took a minute to think ahead to remainder of the season and his team's chances to make the playoffs.
"We still have life but we have dug ourselves a big hole," he said. "We have some games yet to be played. We are in for the fight of our lives."
Nelson, meanwhile, afforded himself a brief smile knowing his Trojans had just notched a big win.
"This was a huge step forward," Nelson said. "We started out a little tight but these kids fought through it and came out with a win. Now we've got to build on this and carry it into Laurel next week."
