Friday night’s football game between host Trenton and visiting Oak Hall School was a tale of two halves.
It was an offensive explosion in the first half as the Tigers led the Eagles, 28-26, at the break.
However, Trenton held OHS scoreless in the second half for a 42-26 win on Homecoming.
“On Homecoming, it’s very special,” said Trenton coach Bryant Frye. “That’s a very tough overall team. Coach Fuhr does a great job over there with them. We stopped them on the run in the first half, but we had some difficulty with the passing routes and staying where we were supposed to be. We went in at halftime, we made some adjustments, changed up a few defensive schemes, and came out and played two different styles of defense and rotated in, and luckily things went our way.”
The Eagles (5-1) scored on their first offensive possession following two running plays that netted minus 8 yards.
Facing a 3rd-and-18 at their own 27-yard line, senior quarterback Aaron Akins found junior BJ Johnson down the field for a 73-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Oak Hall lead just one minute into the game.
“We told Aaron we were going to have to try and soften their defense up a little bit, loosen them up, because they were putting eight, nine in the box, so we were able to do a great job in the air tonight,” Oak Hall coach RJ Fuhr said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough plays in us.”
Ironically, the Tigers scored their first touchdown on their third play of the game.
On 3rd-and-10 from their own 39-yard line, senior running back Alexzander Henry scored on a 61-yard run as the Tigers (5-1) tied the game at 7-7.
Oak Hall was forced to punt the ball on its next possession, but a bad snap over the head of punter Noah Poniatowski gave Trenton the ball at the OHS 15-yard line.
A few plays later, junior Wyatt Vanlandingham scored the first of four rushing touchdowns on a 2-yard run for a 14-7 lead with 4:53 to play in the first quarter.
“They killed us on power,” said Fuhr. “We ran our 46-bear front, which usually stops that, but they just had more, excuse the expression, ass than we did. I mean, we have two freshmen playing outside linebacker that are about 170 pounds, and they took advantage of it. We switched, we changed up our defense to a 50 front, and that was stopping them, but our guys just kind of ran out of gas.”
But once again, it only took the Eagles three plays to answer as Akins completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to junior Darius Medley to tie the game at 14-14.
Akins, who threw for over 200 yards in the first half, had four touchdowns in the first 24 minutes of the game.
“He’s amazing,” Fuhr said. “I know you’re not supposed to have favorites as a coach, but it’s hard not to have him as a favorite. I mean, he’s just a great kid, a great leader, a great athlete, great person. I just absolutely love him, and he never came off the field. He literally played every down on offense and defense.”
Both teams took their turn delivering blows in the opening half.
Following Akins’ touchdown pass, Vanlandingham scored on an 18-yard run, capping a 62-yard drive to give Trenton the lead again, 21-14, with 10 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
A costly roughing the punter penalty against Trenton gave Oak Hall the ball at the Tigers’ 27-yard line, and once again, it only took three plays to find the end zone.
A 23-yard pass from Akins to Medley put the Eagles at the 1-yard line and Akins carried it in on the next play.
However, the extra point was blocked and Trenton still led, 21-20, with 8:48 to play in the half.
The Tigers then marched 80 yards and scored on a 24-yard run by Vanlandingham for a 28-20 advantage with 4:40 still left to play in the second quarter.
“We have a stable of backs back there,” Frye said. “We’ve got (Alexzander) Henry, we’ve got (Zayne) Braswell, we’ve got Terrence Baker. Tonight, it was Wyatt Vanlandingham’s night.”
Oak Hall answered again on their next possession, but on a 3rd-and-13 at the Trenton 34-yard line, Akins’ 34-yard touchdown pass to junior Amari Ray was called back due to a holding penalty.
Aided by Trenton’s roughing the passer penalty a few plays later, Aikens threw his third touchdown pass of the half, a 4-yard completion to Medley with 21 seconds left. Oak Hall went for two, but the run failed, giving the Tigers a 28-26 lead heading into the locker room.
On the first possession of the second half, the Tigers marched from their own 35-yard line down to the Eagles’ 17-yard line, eating over six minutes off the clock.
But the Tigers fumbled the ball, their first turnover of the night, and they were also stopped on 4th-and-4 at the OHS 17-yard line on their next possession with 9:45 to play in the game.
With a chance to reclaim the lead, the Eagles were also denied on a 4th-and-3 at the Trenton 41-yard line on a 2-yard run by freshman Jeremiah Taylor.
That led to a pair of long runs by Henry, a 26-yard run and a 35-yard scoring run, for a 35-26 Trenton lead with 4:56 to play in the game.
OHS fumbled the kickoff and Trenton recovered. Just five plays later, Vanlandingham put the nail in the coffin with a 14-yard scoring run with 1:45 remaining in the game.
The Eagles, who were the last unbeaten area team remaining, will look to bounce back next Friday at home against Old Plank Christian Academy (Jacksonville), while Trenton will host Branford.
Football scores
Friday, Oct. 3
Bell 47, Duval Charter (Jacksonville) 27
Bradford (Starke) 36, Palatka 0
Branford 56, Interlachen 20
Buchholz 44, GHS 0
Chiefland 63, Dixie County (Cross City) 8
Columbia (Lake City) 35, Manatee (Bradenton) 0
Foundation Academy (Winter Garden) 42, Bronson 0
Foundation Christian Academy (Valrico) 48, Countryside Christian 0
Hamilton County (Jasper) 58, P.K. Yonge 14
Hawthorne 41, Bayshore (Bradenton) 0
Hernando Christian Academy (Brooksville) 2, Gainesville Christian Community 0 (FF)
Lafayette (Mayo) 27, Fort White 20
Newberry 27, Santa Fe (Alachua) 7
Ocala Christian 38, Saint Francis Catholic Academy 20
Trenton 42, Oak Hall 26
West Nassau (Callahan) 52, Keystone Heights 0
Williston 42, Belleview 6
Zarephath Academy (Jacksonville) 28, Union County (Lake Butler) 23
OFF – Eastside, Suwannee (Live Oak)
