Thiele, Highland start strong in romp

Updated: May 9, 2012 9:43AM

It’s a small step, granted, but it’s at least a step. With host Highland’s 49-22 victory over Lew Wallace in Friday’s opener, the Trojans have a winning record for the first time since August of 2006.

The Trojans entered the season with just three wins in the past four campaigns, while the Hornets have managed just four wins themselves over their last five seasons. But thanks in large part to a pre-game tailgate party featuring the B96 radio van, the Highland stands were as packed and noisy as they’ve been in a while. The introduction of nearly every youth athlete in town served both to further swell the crowd and delay the game’s start for 40 minutes.

Though the game started late, the scoring started early as Highland scored a touchdown on their first five possessions. Trojan quarterback Gunner Grider struck first on a 14-yard run and added a three-yard scoring run in the second quarter. Justin Thiele delivered scoring runs of one and 14 yards and also returned a punt 36 yards for another touchdown.

In between the Trojan fireworks, Lew Wallace got on the board with a pretty 55-yard pass from senior quarterback DeMonyae Collier to Darius Mahome. Mahome snuck a good 10 yards behind the Highland defense and Collier hit him in stride.

Highland squeezed in one more score with 17 seconds remaining in the half. Linebacker Jacob Johnson scooped up a fumble and returned it 38 yards for the touchdown to send the Trojans to the locker room up 42-8.

The second half was plagued by the same collection of fumbles, penalties, and long stoppages of play as the first half. Lew Wallace managed the only points of the third quarter on a 29-yard pass from Collier to Quinton Harris, who broke a couple of tackles to get into the end zone.

Harris later returned the favor with a 35 yard pass to Collier to close out the scoring. Sandwiched between was a 21-yard scoring run for Highland’s Chris Aifuwa.

Thiele finished his evening with 124 yards of rushing in less than one half of play. As a team, the Trojans accumulated 264 yards rushing on the evening.

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