Zack Creager rushed for 163 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdown to lead National Trail to a 26-12 win over Tri-County North on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Eddie Mowen Jr. | The Register-Herald
LEWISBURG — National Trail controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball from start to finish and in the process earned first-year coach Eric Wolfe his first win.
The Blazers rushed for over 300 yards en route to a 26-12 win over host Tri-County North on Thursday, Aug. 29.
“We made a great improvement from last week,” Wolfe said. “We challenged them this week at practice to play a four-quarter game, and they really strove to fight and get it done, and played tough, physical football. So, I’m proud of these guys. It was just a great, solid team effort. The offensive defensive line stepped up big.”
Zack Creager was the main beneficiary of the play of the offensive line. He rushed for 163 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdowns as the Blazers rebounded from a season-opening 41-14 loss at Bethel.
Trial drove 55-yards on its first possession to grad a 6-0 lead on a 12-yard Cooper Smith TD run.
After forcing the Panther to punt, Trail drove 34 yards in four plays, capped off by a 10-yard Creager TD run, to take a 13-0 lead with 3:45 left in the opening quarter.
“We have been struggling since the scrimmage is coming out fast,” Wolfe said. “We tried to feel people out too much. So, we’ve really just been pushing the last two weeks (that) we have to come out, set the tone, punch people in the mouth. That’s exactly what we did. We played physical football on our first drive. In trenches up front we told those guys the game was going to be won on the offensive and defensive line this week.”
North responded when Mason Givens returned the ensuing kickoff back 86 yards for a touchdown to get with 13-6.
Late in the second quarter, Talon Bousman scored on a two-run TD run to push the Trail lead to 19-7 with 1:27 left in the half.
On their first possession of the third quarter, Trail drove 53 yards in just over six minutes to extend its lead to 26-6 on a 2-yard TD run by Creager.
North didn’t go away quietly as the Panthers scored on a 30-yard TD pass from Davis Bunk to Grayson Woodworth to make it a 26-12 game on the final play of the third quarter.
“They fought till the very end,” North coach Steve Boozier said. “Unfortunately, they put themselves in position early that that fight was admirable. We spotted them 13 and the was the final score. I don’t doubt their effort. We’ve got to execute better. We’re relatively young and we’re small in numbers. We’re just going to keep plugging away.”
Brunk finished the game completing 3-of-7 passes for 68 yards. Payton Fannin led the ground game with 31 yards on five attempts.
Trail improves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference with the win, while North falls to 0-2 and 0-1.
Trail will play its second straight road game this Friday (Sept. 6) when its travels to Preble Shawnee (2-0, 1-0), a 42-25 winner of Tri-Village last week.
North will travel to Bradford on Friday with both teams looking for their first win of the season. Bradford lost to Ansonia 60-12 in Week Two.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
