Sports
Recap: Trimble Continues Postseason Success With 55-8 Victory Over Symmes Valley
By: Josh Gregory
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Back in 2011, the Trimble Tomcats lost to the Symmes Valley Vikings 28-19 in the regional quarterfinals. But the Tomcats are a much different team than the one from three years ago, and had a different plan for how this game would play out.
Gridiron Glory Player of the Year finalist Justice Jenkins continued his offensive dominance in 2014 with five rushing touchdowns plus one passing touchdown. That combined with Austin Downs’s three receiving touchdowns gave No. 2 seed Trimble a 55-8 blowout victory against No. 7 seed Symmes Valley.
Going into tonight’s Region 25 playoff match-up, the Tomcats (11-0) knew that the Symmes Valley defense was a big threat, but the Tomcats knew no fear tonight.
Jenkins got the offense moving early in the game with a five-yard rushing touchdown six minutes within the first quarter. From there, Jenkins and Downs led the powerhouse Trimble offense to 42 points in the first half.
Tomcat quarterback Andrew Losey did his part as well, as he had a near perfect night completing nine of his 11 attempts for 160 yards, an average of over 17 yards per completion.
“Tonight, I thought he (Losey) played about as good as any quarterback I’ve had in my 21 years as head coach,” said Head Coach Phil Faires after the game.
There was a scare late in the second quarter as Jenkins went down hard with just under three minutes left in the half. But he persevered with two more touchdowns in the second half and averaged over 12 yards per carry.
On the other side of the ball, the Symmes Valley Vikings (6-5) could not get going against the tenacious Trimble defense. The Tomcats’ caused quarterback Derek Smith to throw two interceptions, and a fumble, and forced two turnover-on-downs,.
Coach Faires had nothing but praise for the Trimble defense tonight.
“We lost a lot of talent last year, defensively especially, so it’s taken a little bit longer to gel defensively,” he said. “But I think everything is finally coming together and the defense played one of the best games tonight that I have seen them play this season.”
The Tomcats held Symmes Valley’s three-headed running attack of Collin Webb, Brandon Craft and Tanner Mays under control as the team averaged just over three yards per carry in the game.
The Vikings finally broke into the scoring column on the first play of the fourth quarter, as Smith found receiver Brandon Craft in the end zone to bring the score to the final score of 55-8.
With the win, Trimble advances to play the No. 3 seed Caldwell Redskins (11-0) next Saturday in the Region 25 semifinals.