New Hope head coach Allen Glenn held aloft a copy of the Commercial Dispatch from a year ago when Caledonia defeated the Trojans amidst a winless season.
“CALEDONIA SNAPS THREE-GAME SKID AGAINST NEW HOPE IN DOMINANT FASHION,” read the headline of the 28-14 win.
There was no lengthy postgame speech to his players, only a brief talk before shredding the paper and allowing his players to erupt in celebration.
The Trojans (2-1) battered their cross-county rivals, 49-0, on Friday night, shutting out the Cavaliers (1-3) in the rivalry’s most lopsided result since 2013.
The Trojans scored 28 points in the second quarter thanks to a relentless running game and a defense that forced two red zone turnovers.
It was domination in New Hope’s 50th win over their Lowndes County neighbors.
“I’m just proud of them,” Glenn said of his team. “For keeping their cool the last two weeks, we were off last week, and I’m proud of them for playing. We’re in a process right now. This is part of the process and I challenged them not to let the pinnacle of a night like tonight get you beat down the road. This is not the end goal of our season.”
Freshman quarterback Tyrekus Brooks ran for three touchdowns in the game, including the first two of the night to set the tone for New Hope. He split drives with sophomore Juice Tate at quarterback as the Trojans sprinted out of the gate and didn’t slow down until reaching the finish line.
“He’s got a bit of that ‘It’ factor to him,” Glenn said of Brooks. “He’s a freshman but he plays older than that, and he’s got a bright future. I’m proud of him, proud of the whole offense. There’s some good things at quarterback from him and Juice Tate, I think they both give us something to help us win.”
Running backs Jeremiah Harkins and Jacob Jefferson added scores on the ground in the second quarter, and a trick-play touchdown pass by tight end Lonnie Shinn to receiver Trey Tippett all but ended the contest 15 seconds before halftime. Brooks would complete his hat-trick with a third-quarter touchdown before Tippett hauled in another touchdown pass from Drew Glenn to finish things off.
“Tip your hat to New Hope, they played well and they got after our rear end,” Cavaliers head coach Michael Kelly said. “Right now we’re in the same old story we’ve been in, we just can’t make a play defensively. Offensively we’re banged up but that’s no excuse. We need to be better. I’m doing a poor job leading our team right now and I’ve done a poor job of putting kids on the field that don’t really want to play.”
Caledonia was banged up coming into the game and left with even more injuries to worry about. Quarterback Tyler Long got the start in place of Cohen Clark, and was forced out after taking a hit to the head. Conner Black stepped in under center to finish the game and struggled to get things right as the Cavaliers went scoreless for a third straight game.
“We’re not going to change who we are,” Kelly said. “The schematics won’t change, I believe in what we do, I just think it comes down to how we’re doing it right now. It’s some of the personnel we’re doing it with and I’m just not getting us ready to play. I haven’t flipped the right switch, maybe I need to paint my face or eat worms or something. I don’t know, we ain’t figured it out yet and that’s a poor leadership job by me.”
There was a scary moment in the second half as Caledonia linebacker Trevor Dennis went down hard with an apparent head injury. Play was stopped for several minutes as medical staff attended to him before he was carted off the field. Dennis was conscious and gave a thumbs up to the crowd as he was taken off the field.
“I think it was all precautionary,” Kelly said. “I think Trevor is fine, he wanted to get up but I’m not a doctor, I’m just a lousy coach right now… He felt pretty good, they just wanted to make sure.”
Kelly wasn’t going to blame the injuries though, instead putting the recent performances on himself as well as a poor effort from his players.
“We’re struggling right now but we’re not going to cry about it,” Kelly continued. “We’ve got young men in that huddle who aren’t going to cry about it, we’ve got young ones who need to grow up fast and find out what it’s all about. Tough times don’t last but tough people do and we need to persevere. We’ve been on both sides of it, we just need to come out fighting.”
New Hope 49, Caledonia 0
Caledonia (1-3) – 0 0 0 0 – 0
New Hope (2-1) – 7 28 7 7 – 49
First Quarter
NH – Tyrekus Brooks 12 run (Carson Rickman kick), clock 9:06
Second Quarter
NH – Brooks 5 run (Rickman kick), clock 9:54
NH – Jeremiah Harkins 22 run (Rickman kick), clock 9:24
NH – Jacob Jefferson 13 run (Rickman kick), clock 1:30
NH – Trey Tippett 45 pass from Lonnie Shinn (Rickman kick), clock 0:15
Third Quarter
NH – Brooks 17 run (Rickman kick), clock 5:46
Fourth Quarter
NH – Tippett 40 pass from Drew Glenn (Rickman kick), clock 5:51
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
