Trojans, Trace to tangle with Tonka

You won’t be hearing a lot from Trace Norfleet over the next two years, but you’ll be hearing a lot about him. The soft-spoken junior running back for the Trojans won the state championship in the long-jump last spring and now he’s making noise on the football field this fall. Sharing time with senior Josh Eatman through the first four games, they served as great complements.
With Eatman out with an injury the past two weeks, Norfleet has been able to showcase what he can do. Two weeks ago against Truman, Norfleet rushed for 144 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown, and then bested his previous performance this last week against William Chrisman by gaining 169 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns as the Trojans shutout the Bears 46-0. Keep in mind, Norfleet along with a majority of the Trojan starters only played in the first half of both games.
“Just gaining more confidence,” Norfleet said when asked what the increased carries meant.

Score aside, the game on paper may have looked closer. In the first half Chrisman held possession far longer, allowed only five first downs, and didn’t punt. This was mostly due to the Trojans’ drives resulting in long scoring plays including a Norfleet 69-yard touchdown run on the game’s second play, another Norfleet 64-yard touchdown run, and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Corey Sterling to receiver Nick Hughes. Hughes’ first touchdown catch of the season has been in the making, as him and Sterling had barely missed opportunities earlier in the season to connect on the long ball.
“It was bound to happen at some point,” Hughes said. “I think we understand each other a little more now.”

Well deserved credit should be given to the Trojan defense in their second shutout of the season. In addition to constant pressure from the defensive front, several big plays were made by LB De’Aris Flint who was involved in a pair of fumbles. DB De’Rion Rambo intercepted an early first half pass to put the Trojan offense only 20 yard away from another touchdown.
Park Hill (5-1) will come home to play Winnetonka (5-1) as a part of the school’s homecoming festivities this weekend and a chance at redemption as the Griffins edged out the Trojans 28-27 last year. Winnetonka is coming off a 21-6 victory against Truman last week. The story for the Griffins this season has been running back Darrell Jobe, who had 236 yards on 40 carries last Friday. With the amount of carries he gets, it’s no secret what the Trojan defense will be targeting this Friday.

“They’ll have a good running game and it’s always our focus to stop the run so we’ll be working really hard to do that,” Coach Greg Reynolds said. “On offense, we’re hoping to be a little more diversified with being able to run and pass.”