CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. – Trion did just enough on offense and dominated on defense to escape with a 21-7 win at Gordon Lee in a football game that started Friday night and finished early Saturday.
Three separate weather interruptions and a lengthy injury delay pushed the old rivals’ Region 6A-A matchup past midnight. The Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1) scored a pair of second-half touchdowns on drives of 65 and 80 yards, accumulating most of the team’s 174 total yards on those series.
Dynamic junior Cade Peterson returned the second half’s opening kickoff 75 yards for a tying touchdown for Gordon Lee (2-3, 0-2). Trion answered with a six-play, 65-yard drive that opened with a 40-yard pass from Lincoln Maddux to Kodiak Crabbe and was capped by Brantley Wilbanks’ 2-yard run.
The Trojans put together their lone decent drive starting late in the third quarter behind the speedy Peterson, crossing midfield as the period ended. Two plays later, though, lineman Austin Crowley was injured trying to block on an extended pass play.
An ambulance was called to attend to Crowley, who had briefly gotten up after the play before going down. After nearly 30 minutes, he was taken to a hospital; his status was not immediately known.
The injury seemed to take the steam out of the Trojans, who ended the drive with a punt and watched as Trion marched 80 yards in 12 plays to put the game away. Rob Brown, who led the Bulldogs with 63 rushing yards, had back-to-back 18-yard runs and Maddux connected with Will Wyatt for an 8-yard completion on fourth-and-5 to extend the drive.
Three plays later, Bryce Wallin scored on a 7-yard run with just less than four minutes to play.
Wyatt, who was also a big part of Trion’s defensive performance, got the scoring started in the first half after blocking a Gordon Lee punt and scoring from 2 yards out four plays later. Wyatt, Clay Baker, Crabbe and Ross Moore also had multiple tackles at or behind the line as the Bulldogs held the Trojans to just 61 total yards.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.