COLUMBUS – A season full of high moments and victories to cheer about ended with a night full of tears and a gut-wrenching feeling of a job not finished for New Hope.
A costly punt out of bounds and a loss of possession during a kick return late in the fourth quarter gave way to two quick touchdowns for visiting Holmes County Central, which utilized a series of explosive plays to climb back from a 28-14 second-half deficit and hand New Hope a shocking 36-28 season-ending defeat Friday night in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
“I don’t think you can ever question the heart of this football team,” head coach Allen Glenn said. “There were some mistakes that were made that we couldn’t overcome at the end, mistakes that you can’t make in a playoff football game. That’s all there is to it. You can’t punt the ball out of bounds, you can’t fumble on the kickoff there to get the ball back and have a chance to go down and score to win the game. But all in all, I’d go to war with this group every day of the week. (I’m) proud of them and love them.”
The Trojans had to play the majority of the game without starting quarterback Tyrekus Brooks, who went down on the team’s first drive of the game with a knee injury and did not return. Backup signal caller Drew Glenn took his spot and made some key throws in the fourth quarter – two to tight end Dalton Elmore for a 4-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and another one on 4th-and-5 to keep the Trojans’ offense on the field for just a little longer – but his main mission was to hand the ball off to running back Jacob Jefferson. Jefferson took those handoffs and carved up the Jags early in the contest as he posted 160 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries just in the first half. Fellow ball carrier Jeremiah Harkins chipped in 24 yards and a diving touchdown run on five attempts to give New Hope a 14-8 lead at the break. Behind their running back duo, the Trojans chewed up the game clock in the first half, only allowing the Jags to have one possession in the first quarter and two in the second.
“That was the plan,” Allen Glenn said. “The plan was to limit their possession, run the ball, run the clock and we were able to do that for most of the night. It just didn’t kind of go our way at the end.”
Holmes fumbled the ball and lost possession on its first drive of the third quarter, which set up Drew Glenn’s touchdown throw for a 21-8 lead, but before the Trojans could blink the Jags were already back in the end zone on an 18-yard pass. Harkins punched in the team’s last touchdown run in response with 3:08 left in the third quarter.
Holmes went to work on its next drive and capped off an 11-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown run and the 2-point conversion to cut its deficit to 28-22 heading into the fourth quarter. New Hope chewed up over nine minutes of the final frame in one drive but was forced to punt at midfield, which set up Holmes’ comeback.
With 1:33 left to play, New Hope had one last drive to try and retake the lead, but Drew Glenn’s pass was intercepted on the first play to ice the game.
“I’m just proud of (the team); we faced some adversity tonight,” Allen Glenn said. “Our starting quarterback went down early in the game and Drew came in and I thought did an exceptional drive for a guy who hasn’t played a lot of football. So kudos to him and kudos to the guys for rallying around him. But again, it’s tough to swallow the way it ended right there, but hopefully we can bounce back and be better because of it.”
The Trojans end their season at 7-4, while the Jags (9-3) move on to play Cleveland Central in the second round.
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