Saint Joseph’s Prep Trounces Archbishop Wood 52-6

Tagged under: District 12, Gameday Hub, News

Zak Wolf | October 31, 2020

Jeremiah Trotter Junior. You better get used to hearing that name more often over the next few years. Trotter, the son of former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, was all over the place in The Prep’s dismantling of Archbishop Wood on Saturday afternoon.

Trotter made tackle after tackle, stifling Wood’s offense. Every time the Vikings tried to get to the second level, Trotter was right there “He trusts those guys up front to be able to sometimes just take up blocks for him to be able to hit those creases and make those plays.” Said Coach Tim Roken.

The Senior Linebacker made what might have been the play of the day, when he picked off Max Keller on a ball that was tipped into the air. Trotter was able to come down with it, follow his blockers and find his way to the corner of the end zone for the score. Funnily enough, there wasn’t just one Trotter on the field. Josiah, Jeremiah’s brother is a sophomore that also plays linebacker. It’s already hard enough to deal with Jeremiah, but Josiah makes it twice as difficult to score on The Prep’s defense.

The brother to brother connection was in full effect on the interception, “A great part about that play was that Josiah actually tipped the ball and it went right to Jeremiah. This is something they could look back on and cherish since this is the last season they’ll get to play together.” Said Coach Roken

Jeremiah is a five star recruit heading to Clemson next year and is widely considered the best Inside Linebacker in his class. Clemson is one of the top programs in the country, but I see no reason why he can’t contribute right away for the Tigers. “I think he’s going to go down there with the mindset that he understands he needs to compete and work every day and make the best of his opportunities that he’s going to be given,” His coach explained, “He’s always been a hard worker on the field, in the weight room, and in the classroom as well. So I think a lot of his success in those three phases when he gets down to Clemson will help him and he’ll make the most of his opportunities”

St. Joe’s certainly didn’t look like a team that hadn’t practiced for two weeks until the day before. The school had an outbreak of Coronavirus cases, causing the football team to shut down for two weeks. Despite the break, the team didn’t skip a beat, “It was good that we were able to rest our legs a little bit, but as a coach your always a little bit concerned about not having that practice time and having it live, but we had an opportunity to get out here and our guys made the most of it” Said Roken

His team set the tone early, nearly scoring on the first play of the game when Kyle McCord found Sahmir Haggans for a 49 yard gain. McCord, one of the many highly rated recruits for The Prep was on target all day. The Ohio State commit threw for 4 touchdowns, and had one rushing touchdown, which put the Hawks up on the board. And they didn’t look back from there.

It only took St. Joe’s one play to score on their next drive. McCord hit Malik Cooper in stride over the middle for a 55 yard TD and just like that it was 14-0 in the blink of an eye. “We talk a lot about the first four minutes of the half and the last four minutes of the half. They’re key pieces that we got to make sure we’re ready to play. Because sometimes in those minutes it can change a game” Roken explained.

Roken’s team definitely executed that plan well, because they were up two possessions with only five minutes gone in the first quarter.

The game was pretty much settled by the end of the first half with The Prep leading 38-0, thanks to the Trotter pick 6, and touchdowns from Malik Copper and Marvin Harrison Junior. Harrison Jr. had a relatively quiet game by his standards, catching four balls for 97 yards and a TD. The fact that this was a quiet game, shows the caliber of player Harrison really is. Another player from this St.Joseph’s team to look out for heading forward at the next level.

Wood fought hard in the second half, but it was difficult to get much going, especially with two of their key pieces on offense getting knocked out of the game. Star Running back Kael Costello was injured in the first quarter and their Quarterback Max Keller was taken out in the second half after taking a big hit from a defender.

The Prep will face off against Roman Catholic next week and who knows what the rest of the season entails for them. One thing is for certain, that they’ll be ready to play whoever, whenever. “We’ve just got to keep playing as a team and live by our moto which is trust and love. Trusting one another, do our jobs and come out here and work every single day” Jeremiah Trotter said. “Keep our head down, stay hungry and stay humble. We have to take this one day at a time and we’re grateful for the opportunities that we get to be together.” His coach added.

Saint Joesph’s definitely has a target on their backs, but this performance showed that they might just be too good for any opponent they face.

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