Trojans Look to Rebound After Oil Bowl Loss

Senior+Alex+Ferguson+celebrates+a+touchdown+with+teammates+Grant+Murphy+and+Sam+Marsh+in+the+51st+Oil+Bowl+held+at+Natrona.++NC+won+the+game+20-14.

Senior Alex Ferguson celebrates a touchdown with teammates Grant Murphy and Sam Marsh in the 51st Oil Bowl held at Natrona. NC won the game 20-14.

Tanner Christensen, Staff Writer

The scoreboard doesn’t paint the complete picture of Friday night’s game. By now we all know that the 51st Oil Bowl ended in favor of Natrona County with the score of 20 points over Kelly Walsh’s 14 . For those who were in attendance during the game it was evident that claiming the “W” wasn’t going to be easy for either team.

Despite a nearly hour and a half delay due to lighting, the Trojans came out strong to start the game off.

“The lighting delay really dampened the mood before the game, but we regained excitement and came out and shocked the world the first half,” senior Grant Murphy said.

He was exactly right; it was evident that the Trojans weren’t going to let the delay get in their way. They came out pumped up and used that adrenalin to make big plays and stun the home crowd from Natrona . Late in the first half, starting quarterback Lamont Frisby had to leave the game due to an injury. Following that, backup quarterback Jacob Kostal had no problem jumping into the game and leading the team.

“He played really well he lead our team down the field and scored two touchdowns in the first half,” said Murphy.

In the first half Kostal completed 4 of 6 passes gaining 62 yards resulting in two touchdowns giving Kelly Walsh a 14-7 lead going into half time.

From a spectator standpoint it seemed that Kelly Walsh really relied on their passing game. This seemed true to Murphy as well.

“I thought we had a decent run game but we had more of a reliance on our passing game,” said Murphy.

In terms of passing, the team really focused on throwing it deep.

“We threw it deep a lot, we had to try to take shots but we may have taken too many,” said Murphy.

Defensively, the Trojans had a strong game.  Last year the Oil Bowl ended with a score of 49-0 in favor of Natrona.  This year the Trojan defense held the Mustangs to just 20 points. The pass defense was particularly effective as most of Natrona’s big plays came from run plays.

The Trojans surprised fans on both sides with their intensity and energy throughout the game.

“It was the most physical we had been all year, we came out, we were hitting them, and we were winning the line of scrimmage,” Head Coach Jon Vance said.

In terms of what the team needs to take from this game and implement in weeks to come, the team must keep the intensity up in order to be successful.

“Our effort and how physical we played Friday night, is how we need to play every Friday night. That’s how were going to be alright if we keep that up,” said Vance.

This week the Trojans will take on the Red Devils in Evanston before they head back home for homecoming week next week.