STARKVILLE — As junior defensive end Juan Cedano began to grab the football and rumble 95 yards for a touchdown, every New Hope High School football fan was trying to figure who that was winning the game for their team.
After the fumble recovery and touchdown with just 31 seconds left in the contest, the Trojans earned a 7-0 victory in the final game of the Fall High School Jamboree at Mississippi State”s Davis Wade Stadium.
Cedano, an unknown junior who spent last season on the junior varsity team, found himself in the correct spot near the goal line when Philadelphia High tailback Marquise Matthews coughed up the ball. Before the ball hit the ground, Cedano had it fall in his lap. He then took off with a three-player wall beside him the entire way.
“We got tired on that last drive and Philadelphia was sticking it in our butt,” New Hope coach Michael Bradley said. “We made the big defensive play and we take it.”
With trying to replace nine starters on offense from a team that lost in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state playoffs, New Hope”s offense sputtered late in drives.
New Hope ran 34 offensive plays in that half compared to five by Philadelphia, but couldn”t get closer than the 18-yard line on any of its three offensive drives.
The Trojans couldn”t make a dent on a defense missing key contributors to graduation, including University of Mississippi signee C.J. Johnson at linebacker.
But sophomore E.J. Jenkins scrambled to avoid several sacks to create a positive gain despite multiple defenders in the backfield.
“With any team at this season, the defense should be ahead of the offense, but I thought we did some things on offense to be proud of,” Bradley said. “We didn”t finish and when we had a six-, seven-, eight-play drive. We just didn”t put it in the end zone at the end.”
In the first half New Hope got into the red zone twice but couldn”t convert in the passing game to extend the drive and a long snap over the punter”s head gave Philadelphia a momentum shift after giving up yards on another long drive.
New Hope”s defense stopped a critical Philadelphia drive in the second half of the scrimmage when Matthews” fumble was smothered by JoJo Reeves to give the Trojans another offensive series.
“We knew we would need to rely on a defense early on, but I”m going to see a lot of positives from this game on both sides of the football,” Bradley said.
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