By Stephen Ham

Special to the Leader

  The Red Storm football program began last week’s game against the visiting Thornton Academy Trojans with a bang when tailback Brendan Ham electrified the crowd with a 90 yard touchdown run on the opening kickoff, but in the end Thornton had all the firepower they needed to down Scarborough 35-6 on a chilly Friday night.

  Ham’s run stunned a Trojan team that came in 2-0 and was ranked by some as high as the fourth in the state. Thornton gave up only six points total in its first two games, while scoring an average of 53 points itself. This was a team that expected to win in Scarborough, and win big. 

  That belief took a hard punch at the start of the game. Ham took the ball on his own 10, and came up the middle right behind the strong Scarborough wedge. He broke into the open at the Storm 40 and dodged the last three players in his way en route to the end zone and a 6-0 Red Storm lead. 

   Thornton threatened on its first possession, but couldn’t punch the ball over for a score as the Storm defense gave the Trojan offense all they could handle all day long. They held Thornton to small gains in the first half, making them pay for every yard, and on the day only gave up one play of more than 25 yards.

  Thornton scored and took the lead 7-6 later in the first quarter, but on the ensuing kickoff they gave up another long return when Ham took the kick 60 yards to the Trojan 35. The Red Storm were fired up, perhaps sensing the opportunity they had, while the Trojans scratched their collective helmets and wondered what was going on. Unfortunately, Scarborough was unable to turn that field position into points in what was to be the theme of the game. The Red Storm amassed plenty of offensive yards, but couldn’t break into the end zone after the first 15 seconds of the game, and while the defense didn’t give up big plays, they just couldn’t stop the potent Trojan offense. 

   Particularly effective Red Storm defenders were Matt Duquette, who broke up two long pass attempts by Thornton quarterback Steve Trask to his favorite defender, John Trull. Trull, at 6’4”, dwarfed the scrappy Duquette, but he played great position and was able to leap up and knock down the passes, one a sure touchdown in the end zone. Colin O’Connor also had a huge game on both sides of the ball. He was one of the stoppers for the Storm in the middle, making several big hits, and was the one receiver who was able to connect with quarter back Kyle Kelley, taking several short tosses and turning them into big gains with his legs. Brian Woodbury, Tyler Millett, Evan Twomey, Nick Neugebauer, and Phil Christian also turned in stellar defensive performances.

   Peter Doyer fell on a fumble at the Trojan 30 with 57 seconds left in the half, giving Scarborough a final opportunity to tie the score, but after getting to the 15, two sacks pushed the Storm back and the half ended with Thornton up 14-6.

  Following the break, Thornton came out and promptly proved why they are one of the top ranked football programs in the state, scoring 21 unanswered points in the third quarter.

   Scarborough head coach David Sterling commented on what happened.   

   “We’ve got to get a little better defensively. We had an opportunity to wrap people up and tackle them and we weren’t doing that in the second half. Offensively, we gave some people an opportunity to catch the ball out in space today. We moved the ball quite well throwing it, and if we could have done that more often today, we win this game.”

The Red Storm proved they have the personnel to play with the best teams, but as the score showed at the end, they have a long ways to go. Consistent play, fundamentals like strong tackling, holding blocks, all need work.

And, As Sterling pointed out, “You know, in the first half we moved the ball successfully. We came out (in the second half) and moved the ball successfully again. It was on third down and fourth down that we didn’t make the catch, and that’s what’s going to hurt us. We need to be able to complete a drive right now.”

 The Red Storm fall to 2-1, and travel to Noble Friday, Sept. 26, for a match up with the 0-3 Knights.