STANDISH — After two straight blowout wins to open the season, the Thornton Academy football team found itself in a dogfight on the road at Bonny Eagle on Friday. The Trojans trailed three different times in the game, including early in the second half, but they used big plays to propel themselves to a 37-20 victory.
“We had a football game,” said Thornton head coach Kevin Kezal. “That’s what they’re going to be. In this league, those are the types of games you’re going to play.”
The Trojans trailed for the first time all season when the Scots opened the game with a nine-minute drive that resulted in a touchdown run by quarterback Tyson Goodale. Thornton couldn’t answer, and ended up punting on the first play of the second quarter.
The Trojans’ defense forced Bonny Eagle to punt on its next drive, and Andrew Libby took it back 64 yards for a touchdown. It was the third punt return touchdown in three games for Libby.
Bonny Eagle then answered back, as Joe Bissonnette ran 76 yards for a touchdown on the Scots’ first play of the next drive.
Thornton Academy had its first chance to run a sustained drive, and it methodically moved the ball in 12 plays that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Libby.
The Trojans took their first lead of the game on Bonny Eagle’s next possession when Goodale had to fall on the ball in the end zone after a bad snap for a safety. The Scots had trouble with high shotgun snaps all night, and it cost them on more than one occasion.
The Trojans couldn’t take advantage of their last drive of the first half, or when they got the ball to open the second, and the Scots took back the momentum. Bonny Eagle ran another long drive that again ended in a Goodale touchdown run.
However, it took the Trojans just four plays to take back the lead for good, as Libby scored from two yards out after Josh Coffin returned a kickoff deep into Bonny Eagle territory.
“It’s huge,” Kezal said of his team getting two big returns. “They are offensive plays. Any time you can get those big plays, set your offense up for the short field, those are big plays.”
What might have been the biggest play of the game came at the end of Bonny Eagle’s next drive. The Scots converted on big third and fourth down plays, and looked to score the go-ahead touchdown, but Bissonnette fumbled into the end zone and Thornton recovered if for a touchback.
“Definitely it was (big),” TA quarterback Eric Christensen said of the fumble recovery. “It’s just another momentum-shifter that went in our favor tonight, and hopefully we can keep getting those.”
Ironically, the Trojans’ next possession ended in the same manner, but forced a three-and-out by the Scots and to get a short field. Christensen ran the ball in for a touchdown from one yard out five plays later to give the Trojans a 30-20 lead late in the fourth quarter.
Nick Kenney punched the ball in from five yards out with a little more than two minutes to go to round out the scoring.
The game served as a wake-up call for the Trojans, who had it relatively easy in their first two weeks.
“It was definitely a good test for us, because we’re definitely going to have more games down the road like this,” said Christensen, who passed for 82 yards and ran for 43 more. “I think it’s good that we had one, this early in the season, that way we know how to handle it coming on.”
— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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