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Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Tattnall Square blows past John Milledge

Once Tattnall Square got going, there wasn’t much that could stop the Trojans on Friday in the first round of the GISA Class AAA playoffs.

Thanks to visiting John Milledge being able to move the ball on the ground early in the game, Tattnall didn’t get on the scoreboard until late in the first quarter.

But once the Trojans adjusted defensively to John Milledge running back John Hartzell, Tattnall was well on its way to a 41-14 victory. The win sets up a second round clash between the Trojans and Westfield.

Tattnall led 35-0 at halftime, allowing head coach Barney Hester to rest many of his starters for a better part of the second half.

“Offensively, I thought we moved it and did everything we needed to do to be successful,” Hester said. “Our guys played hard.”

Although, Tattnall led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter as a result of a 24-yard quarterback keeper from Ryan Bartholomew, the Trojans didn’t initially control time of possession.

John Milledge was able to do so early on, thanks to the hard running of Hartzell, which enabled the visiting Trojans to put together a 10-play offensive drive to start the game. But after the drive stalled, John Milledge was forced to punt, and Tattnall drove 80 yards on eight plays for the opening score.

Hartzell gained 39 yards on John Milledge’s first two drives but a mere 23 yards the rest of the way as Tattnall adjusted defensively and executed its offense at a high level. Bartholomew stretched Tattnall’s early lead to 14-0 with another option keeper, this time from 33 yards out. Bartholomew finished with 61 yards on nine carries.

“The offensive line really got a good push, and that really opened up a lot,” Bartholomew said.

The Trojans scored three more times before halftime to put the game away.

Tattnall raced to the big lead after being set up in very good position by its defense and special teams.

A 38-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Andrew Layson was set up by a punt return by John Rader. A 3-yard run by Rader and 17-yard touchdown pass from Bartholomew to Ham Goodner expanded Tattnall’s lead to 35-0.

Both scores were the direct result of turnovers — a recovery of a fumbled hand-off inside the John Milledge 15 and an interception return by Josh Boyd to the John Milledge 17-yard line.