Defense improves, offense continues to struggle, as Trenton falls at East Buchanan, 35-0

Coming off of a shutout loss to Brookfield in the first week of the high school football season, Trenton coach Kevin Hixson made it the primary goal to improve his young team’s tackling going into a road trip to East Buchanan.  The work done by the THS defense was noticeable, as the tackling was better, but a Trenton offense unable to string together positive rushing gains and first downs left the field in Gower “tipped” to the home side, as East Buchanan wore down the Bulldogs with short fields and five touchdown runs, in a 35-0 win, leaving Trenton still in search of its first points of the 2020 season.

East Buchanan opened the scoring early in the first quarter, taking a short Trenton kickoff and returning it to the 45 yard line, then driving 55 yards down the field, capped with Cru Conaway’s two yard touchdown plunge.  The extra point was hooked wide-left, leaving the score 6-0.

For the remainder of the first quarter and through most of the second, Trenton’s improved defense began to shine, led by senior defensive end Royce Jackson, who had a sack and numerous tackles, but was slowed after one of the down-field tackles injured his leg.  He played, but with a noticeable limp, for the remainder of the night.  

East Buchanan extended the lead midway through the second quarter on a Blake Antle four-yard run and two-point conversion pass, pushing the lead to 14-0.  The halftime lead went to 21-0 on a 3 yard Antle run and successful PAT by Trevor Rush.

Antle’s career night finished with two more touchdowns, and a grand total of four, with two more second half tallies.  The first was a 29 yard scamper midway through the third quarter, with this finishing act a 61 yard jaunt up the east sideline at East Buchanan High School.

East Buchanan, 2-0 on the season with wins over South Harrison and Trenton, is in search of a Week 3 opponent, with Lathrop not playing due to a COVID-19 outbreak in its coaching ranks.  Trenton will open Grand River Conference play this week, traveling to Princeton to tangle with the Tigers in a 7 o’clock kick Friday, September 11th on Hot Country Z 101.7.

Those Tigers traveled to Cleveland, Missouri on Friday night to take on the Cass-Midway Vikings in a Week 2 test.  Princeton emerged from the trip with a hard-earned 38-19 victory, improving to 1-1 on the season.

Milan improved to 2-0 with a 57-32 win over visiting Harrisburg, dropping the Bulldogs to 1-1.

Head coach John Dabney spoke about the win on the Farmers Bank of Northern Missouri Locker Room Show: 

Here is the football scoreboard from September 4, 2020: 

Penney 32, Gallatin 26 (OT) 

Brookfield 42, Marceline 7 

Slater 15, Polo 14

Plattsburg 51, St. Joseph Christian 6

South Harrison 49, West Platte 16

Higginsville 38, Lawson 0 

Mid-Buchanan 73, Maysville 8 

Savannah at Lathrop – CANCELLED – COVID-19

Kirksville 27, Chillicothe 21

Lafayette 28, Atchison 7 

Pleasant Hill 41, Benton 6

Maryville 42, Harrisonville 40 

St. Pius X 21, St. Michael the Archangel 13

Cameron 42, KC Southeast 0 

Lexington 42, KC Central 8 

Boonville 74, Holden 2

Oak Grove 24, Warrensburg 14

Sweet Springs 14, Carrollton 13

Paris 30, Salisbury 6

Fayette 36, Scotland County 12

Westran 36, Knox County 22

Clark County 28, Macon 14

Putnam County 14, South Shelby 12

Monroe City 46, Winfield 6

Centralia 34, Hallsville 28 

Palmyra 13, Bowling Green 0 

Platte County 35, Kearney 14

8-Man:

Pattonsburg 68, Schuyler County 0 

North Andrew 60, Bishop LeBlond 20 

Mound City 52, Stewartsville-Osborn 0 

St. Paul Lutheran 38, Braymer 16

Southwest Livingston 76, South Holt / Nodaway-Holt 38 

King City 50, DeKalb 14

East Atchison 62, Northwest Nodaway 12

Platte Valley 40, Rock Port 36

Stanberry 38, Albany 34

Worth County 54, Doniphan West 42

Hardin-Central 70, Kansas East Christian 28

North Shelby 58, Northwest (Hughesville) 14