By Brian Holtzapple
For The Daily Item
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ELIZABETHVILLE — Sixteen seconds into the game Upper Dauphin found the end zone for its first touchdown of the night against Carson Long.
It was the first of many touchdowns the Trojans would score in a short amount of time against the over-matched Warriors on Friday evening.
Upper Dauphin put 47 points on the board in the opening quarter to run away for a 69-0 victory over Carson Long at Trojans Stadium.
“I just felt our kids overall, with the mentality they had in the locker room before the game, they took the game as business as usual and not thinking it was Carson Long or an opponent we should roll,” said Upper Dauphin first-year coach Justin Adams.
“They took Carson Long as a quality opponent and we got out of the game what we needed to do. I think the fact they took Carson Long seriously was why we dominated the way we did.”
One of the positives that Adams and his Trojans got out of the game was the copious amount of playing time for the freshmen and sophomores on the team after the slaughter rule went into effect early in the second quarter.
A fumbled opening kickoff return by Carson Long, followed by Cody Hoffman’s 28-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, gave Upper Dauphin (1-0) its quick first touchdown.
Fifteen seconds later the Trojans’ Jesse Henry intercepted a pass from Tyler Rogers and returned it 17 yards for another score.
Just under two minutes after that, a botched punt attempt by the Warriors set up Cody Kreiser’s five-yard run for a 21-0 lead with 9:38 left in the first quarter.
From there, Ian Buffington had touchdown runs of 20 and 51 yards, and Hoffman added another touchdown run of five yards as well as a 20-yard punt return for a score.
The halftime score was 60-0 following two touchdown runs by second-string players in the second quarter.
“For a young team, it was important for us to get out of the gate early and get some confidence,” said Adams. “There’s little things we can take away from this game, and the most important thing is the fact we got our older guys some reps and our freshmen and sophomores played three out of the four quarters.”
The production of the younger players helped Upper Dauphin roll up 302 yards on the ground. Starting running back Hoffman and slotback Buffington finished with 72 and 71 yards, respectively, and fullback Kreiser had 37 for the Trojans.
Upper Dauphin’s second- and third-string players accounted for 122 yards on 19 carries.
“It’s nice to get a win, but it’s no fun for either side when you have a game that’s that one-sided,” said Adams. “It’s nice for us to be 1-0, but we’re keeping everything in perspective.”
