Football fell 19-46 at the hands of the Glenn High School Eagles as the third of a series of difficult pre-league matchups for the Trojans. The game took place on Thursday, September 6, and continued the Trojans winless preseason thus far.
Though the result was negative, the team showed many improvements.
“We threw the ball really well and the offensive line is doing a better job now in pass blocking,” Coach Scott Meyer said.
Meyer’s sentiment was reflected in the statistics, as senior quarterback Thomas Keeling completed more than 50% of his passes and threw for 220 yards and found seniors Austin Lake, Jared Harlan and Daniel Fernandez in the end zone for three touchdowns.
Though the passing game was an improvement, the team still has a lot to work on.
“[We are] still making too many mistakes, you know costly penalties at crucial times, and we need to continue to work to get better on defense,” Coach Meyer said.
Though the team is winless so far, the quality of their opponents should be noted. Laguna Hills High School and Orange High School are both ranked inside the top 30 of football teams in Orange County by Dan Albano of Orange County Register (29 and 25 respectively). Glenn High School is also top 700 in the state.
There is a reason behind this tough schedule.
“The non-league [games] we want to win them all but really we are trying to get ready for league and the schedule will definitely have us well prepared when we start the league,” Coach Meyer said.
The difficulty in schedule does not change too much in the upcoming weeks, with the Trojans’ other two non-league matchups against Katella (ranked 24th in the county) and Segerstrom (33rd).
Though it has not been reflected on the scoreboard, there is something special about the football team this season.
“It’s a real good group of guys, and they are all working hard and all working together, so everything’s brand new; it’s a new coaching staff, but we’re excited about the year,” Meyer said.
Meyer hopes to continue to see improvement with the team in the upcoming weeks before league.
“I think we have improved a little bit. We need to continue to improve this week, defensively we need to work on our tackling, and offensively we just need to clean up our mistakes and penalties that are very costly,” Meyer said.
With this improvement, Meyer has high goals for the upcoming season.
“Once we get into Pacific Coast League, we wanna compete for a Pacific Coast League championship, and get in a good position to make a run in the playoffs,” Meyer said.
These upcoming non-league matchups should prepare the team well to kickoff league against Northwood at the homecoming game at 7:00 p.m. on September 28.