Trojans down Tigers behind strong "D"

By By Robby Atkinson/special to The star
September 7, 2002
After a dreadful game on defense last week against Heidelberg the Trojans of Northeast Lauderdale forced five turnovers and knocked off cross-county rival Southeast Lauderdale 13-7 on Friday night.
After a failed opening possession by the Trojans, Southeast Lauderdale went on offense and immediately turned the ball over on a fumble. Michael McShane came up with the loose ball to give Northeast possession of the football early in the first quarter.
Northeast ran 15 plays from scrimmage and came up empty on the one yard line as the Tigers came up with a huge stop on defense led by a pair of huge tackles by Josh Clark. After a short run by the Tigers, McShane came up with an interception to put the Trojans in excellent field position.
Despite several opportunities by both teams in the first half of action neither could put any points on the board as the game was tied 0-0 going into the halftime break.
Southeast took possession of the ball to open the second half and moved down the field with no problems. One of the big offensive plays in the drive came on a 28-yard pass from Andy Landrum to Courtney Granger to put the Tigers at the 47-yard line in their own territory. The big play on defense followed as Dontray Walker picked off a pass by Harper and returned the ball 57 yards for the first touchdown of the contest.
The PAT was good for the Trojans and with 7:13 remaining in the third quarter Northeast held a slim 7-0 advantage over Southeast.
Southeast took possession of the ball and coughed it up once again on another interception and this time Cedric Blanchard came up with the bad pass and the Trojans had control of the ball at the 47 yard line in Tiger territory with 3:27 left in the third period.
After a long drive by Northeast Marcus Betts extended the Trojan lead on a one yard touchdown run and give Northeast a 13-0 edge after a failed PAT with 10:28 left in the final quarter.
Betts ran for 78 yards on the ground and had a touchdown after a great performance last week against Heidelberg. The Tigers came storming back after the Betts touchdown on a 65-yard pass by Drew Harper to Rod Baskin to set up the first Southeast score of the evening.
Harper put the ball in the end zone on a one yard run and Harper also added the PAT and make the score 13-7 with 7:06 left in the contest. After a punt by Northeast the Tigers tried to fight back on an air attack, but Jason Pritchett put the finishing touches on the big win with an interception as the Trojans celebrated a tough six point win over Southeast Lauderdale.
Northeast improved to 1-1 on the season and will travel to Collinsville next week to take on West Lauderdale. Southeast dropped to 1-1 and will make the short drive and take on much improved Clarkdale next week.