Published November 01, 2008 02:05 am - Trojans topple Muskogee for 18th consecutive time
Jenks-ed
By Mike Kays
Phoenix Sports Editor
All week, Muskogee’s pre-game emphasis at Indian Bowl was on drawing first blood — reversing the latest trend in this 17-game losing streak which had seen Jenks average 21 first-quarter points.
But Jenks wide receiver Tramaine Thompson knows that history too and did his part to keep it that way. And anything that had to do with a reverse in the 34-6 victory Friday night belonged to him.
Thompson, who had a pair of big plays last year that turned that 50-35 contest in the Trojans’ favor early, had a big first half this time around with a pair of touchdowns — one rushing and one receiving — and also set up a pair of field goals on a key reception and a punt return. As a result, the one-sided District 6A-3 title showdown became the 18th consecutive victory — and 14th at Indian Bowl — for the Trojans.
A Jenks jinx anyone?
“I hate to break everybody’s bubble, but I don’t think it’s mental,” Trojans coach Allan Trimble said. “I just think the kids have got to go play hard and settle it.”
If effort equals statistics, Jenks settled it — the Trojans compiled 508 total yards to Muskogee’s 182, with almost half of that coming on the Roughers’ last drive of the first half, their only scoring drive of the night, an 80-yard march. Outside of that, a four-man stunting front by the Jenks defense dominated Muskogee and had quarterback Archie Bradley on the run all night.
Other than that, it was Thompson’s night. The senior had 219 all-purpose yards as the No. 2 team in 6A moved to 8-1, 6-0 while nailing down first place in 6A-3 and earning two home playoff games. Muskogee (6-3, 5-1), which faces Tulsa Memorial on the road to close the regular season next Friday, will get a first-round home game no matter the outcome, but settles for second in league play.
Thompson’s 31-yard reception to the Muskogee 6 eight plays into the opening drive set up a 20-yard Cody Mumma field goal. Later in the quarter, he scored on off a 14-yard end around play, picking up a Roughers blitz on one of two he would score on, the other a 53-yard dagger in the third quarter off a single block near the line of scrimmage.
But before halftime, he also got behind coverage on a 38-yard touchdown from quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen and then set up another Mumma field goal with a 34-yard punt return to the Roughers 12.
With just two first downs in nearly a half against a four-man stunt up front that caused problems in the trenches all night for the Rougher offense, it managed its best drive with 1:16 to play, driving 80 yards in seven plays. Bradley hit Cole Chapman in double coverage in the corner with 32:3 left. The run failed.
But the Roughers, who rallied from two-touchdown deficits twice this season, from 16 points down against Owasso and 13 against Broken Arrow, would not get the trifecta.
Any hope of that was sniffed out when out of the Apache split-line set on a fourth-and-1 on their first possession of the second half, a bad snap exchange wound up in the hands of Jenks’ Stephen Brown before any Rougher could get a hand on it. Three plays later, on the same play he scored on in the first half, Thompson took an end-around 53 yards to the house, riding a block by lineman Jake Alexander for a 27-6 advantage with 8:55 on the third-quarter clock.
Kollmorgen, a sophomore making his third consecutive start, finished the rout on a 1-yard run with 1:08 left in the third quarter.
“It’s not anything mental,” Thompson said. “We know coming in here it’s a different atmosphere at Indian Bowl. It’s always rowdy so you have to have a different mind-set. Plus, they come out every year with more athletes, so you’ve got to go just do what you got to do.”
The 28-point gap was the biggest for coach Matt Hennesy in three years, beating by a field goal the 28-3 Jenks win in the 2006 regular season at Jenks. It was the worst loss in the series since a 47-13 win in 2002.