Hammer still swinging for Trojans against Eagles

Published 12:02 am Saturday, August 18, 2018

QUITMAN, Ga. — Brooks County took a 26-point first half advantage en route to a win its season opener.

The Trojans opened the season with a dominant 43-6 victory against Mitchell County on Friday at Veterans Stadium, but head coach Maurice Freeman still felt his team could’ve done more. 

“I’m still a little disappointed because we just made so many mistakes,” Freeman said. “We had penalties that I didn’t like and I feel like we could’ve scored more. Not that we’re trying to run the score up on anybody.”

Brooks had penalties against them on both sides of the ball that could hurt them later down the road if they aren’t corrected early in the season, but Mitchell County couldn’t capitalize on the mistakes that the Trojans made.

One of the Trojans’ setbacks came when senior linebacker, TJ Bivins, was injured on the opening kickoff. Bivins did not play in the contest and the Trojan defense played with a gaping hole all game.

“We had a linebacker hurt early so we didn’t look as good I wanted to look on defense,” Freeman said. “We have some work to do and if we can get that done I think we’ll be OK.”

Freeman said that his team has to work on their conditioning during the course of a game to decrease the amount of penalties received.

“We got the penalties because we were just a little lazy with our feet or we weren’t paying attention and that happens when you get lazy,” he added. “We’re going to work on speeding the offense and defense up so we can get a little winded.”

Deon Fountain carried the Trojan offense with three touchdowns, including a 68-yard run, skating to the outside and outrunning all the Mitchell defenders.

“A lot of our players are young but we have enough experience to come out here and play. I feel like we can put up more if we put in more time and effort,” Fountain said about the team’s six touchdowns.

The Trojans flexed their muscles on offense using the tandem of senior quarterback, JaColby Brown and Fountain in a combination of runs to combine on four of the Trojans six scores.

“We just have to stay focused and we have to run more in practice because we were getting tired, Brown said. “I have to work on my attitude because I got a little hot-headed on the field.”

Fountain said that he was going to work on his leadership on the team and that it’s something that Freeman looks for in his players.

“Our coach really bites down on leadership a lot but you have to learn how to follow before you can lead,” Fountain said. “Throughout some points in the game our energy went down so I just want to work on keeping the team up.”

In the third quarter Brooks let its foot off the gas, but Mitchell couldn’t find their footing to sneak back into the game. The Trojans allowed the Eagles to return the second half kickoff for a touchdown but it was called back by a penalty on Mitchell.

In an awkward sequence for the Trojans, they found themselves facing a fourth down with 45 yards to gain in their own half. Neither situation resulted in the Eagles scoring points but down the road it may be a concern for Freeman’s team.

“We have to put (players) in certain situations to get them going. I think we’ll be OK,” Freeman said about losing momentum in the second half.

UP NEXT

The Trojans will have a week off before traveling to Homerville to face  defending Class A-Public state champion Clinch County on Aug. 31.