By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
New Hope football coach Kris Pickle had seen it before.
His team, trailing Louisville at halftime Friday, had fewer than 100 yards of total offense at the break. The Trojans trailed at halftime in most of their games in 2015, a season in which even the smallest deficits would seem insurmountable.
But plays have a way of instilling confidence in players.
New Hope quarterback Thomas Stevens threw four second-half touchdown passes, including scores of 54 and 75 yards, to lead the Trojans to a 27-26 win over the Wildcats. Stevens ended the night 9 of 17 for 242 yards, 219 of which came in the second half.
“We always talk about believing in each other and I think that’s one thing we lacked last year,” Pickle said. “This is a great senior class, and I’m just proud for these guys. To have a game like this, where you’re down 13-0 and things aren’t going you’re way … to finish like this is a big testament to how much these kids have grown up.”
Pickle lamented the Trojans’ execution in the first half, which included two three-and-outs and a five-play drive that resulted in a punt. And when the Trojans did get something cooking – a 10-play drive to the Louisville 18 – they were stuffed on fourth down.
New Hope exited the locker room revitalized for the second half, marching six plays to their first score, a 19-yard fade to Jeremy Tate. They forced a stop on Louisville’s next series before tying the game in just three plays, which were capped by another Tate touchdown catch. Tate caught the arching pass near the left sideline, turned up field and broke three tackles for a 54-yard score.
“It felt like I broke five or six,” Tate said.
While the Trojans (1-0) looked like a completely different team at that point, Pickle said neither he nor his coaches made any adjustments at halftime.
“We just settled down,” Pickle said. “We stopped ourselves in the first half. We had some mental busts at certain positions, but we just settled down and played ball in the second half.”
New Hope’s chunk plays didn’t stop there.
While Louisville (0-1) continued to pound the middle of the field with quarterback Pervis Frazier and fullback Kendrick Holmes, who combined for 146 yards rushing, the Trojans made the most of the of their brief moments on the ball and Wildcats penalties. Immediately following a go-ahead 10-yard scoring run from Cam’ron Harrington early in the fourth quarter, New Hope sprang a 35-yard kick return and got a 15-yard Louisville late-hit tacked on. Stevens then found Erby two plays later for a 20-yard score to tie the game at 20.
Erby, who’d lined up in the slot, had once again found himself matched up against a bigger, slower player, which opened up plenty of room on the sidelines for Stevens to place the ball for an easy grab.
“They were trying to play outside linebackers or defensive end type guys on our slot receivers, and we thought we could get them into a situation where they’d have to cover in space,” Pickle said. “And we were able to exploit that a little bit. They also pressed up on some of our outside guys and we were able to throw the ball over their heads.”
Those mismatches were magnified once more on New Hope’s next drive when, in just one play, Erby took a bubble screen 75 yards for a score, knifing across the field to give the Trojans a 27-20 lead.
“I was really surprised, but I was proud of the o-line on that,” Erby said. “They opened up a lot (on that play).”
But the celebration was short-lived, as Louisville calmly marched 76 yards for a score, powered by Harrington’s punishing powers and leads, which accounted for 43 yards on the drive.
But good fortune found the Trojans when Elijah Wilkes shanked the extra point.
“With two minutes left, we were prepared to go back out there and get another score,” Tate said. “But hey, we practice blocking kicks and we knew they’d make it happen.”
Lost in the excitement of New Hope’s second-half resurgence was the play of its defense, which held Frazier to 1 of 6 passing in the second half after allowing 85 yards and a score on 8 of 12 completions in the first half. Linebacker/safety Clay Williamson picked off a Frazier pass at the New Hope 15 with the game tied, and later, while in single coverage down the deep middle of the field, broke up a third down pass. He had three pass breakups on the night. The New Hope defense also tallied six sacks by six different players.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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