Resilient Trojans Outlast Miami Jackson

Lely’s high-flying offense did it again Friday night, outscoring Miami Jackson 44-39 at Trojan Stadium against an opponent who refused to go away.

The Trojans scored first on a 19-yard pass to Gage Rice, but Jackson answered right back with a long touchdown run for their only lead of the game, 7-6. The Trojans answered with 3:37 left in the first quarter when junior Ty Collins scooted 10 yards to put the Trojans up for good at 14-7. A 38-yard touchdown pass from Carter Quinn to Brandon Baptiste with 1:20 left in the first quarter put Lely up 22-7.

When the Trojans stretched their lead to 38-15 with 2:35 left in the third quarter on a 26-yard touchdown run by Collins, it looked like the route was on. But Jackson battled back, closing the gap to 38-25. Then Collins took the ensuing kickoff back 98 yards to make it 44-25 with 1:32 left in the third quarter. Surely, Jackson would fold its tent. But no, they battled back in the fourth quarter with a pair of touchdowns to pull within five points.

“Football is a hard sport to win in,” said Ben Hammer, Lely head coach. “We're a young team. Obviously, we've got to do a better job with the personal fouls and the penalties, but our kids played hard, showed a lot of resilience, and found a way to win. This time of year, you win, or you're turning in your stuff. So, we're pretty excited to go to practice on Monday. We're going to celebrate this one this weekend and get ready to go on Monday."

Collins turned in an amazing performance, rushing for 289 yards with two rushing touchdowns, along with his kickoff return TD. He also had a key interception to save a touchdown.

“He’s a warrior on both sides of the ball,” Hammer said, “and on some special teams. He had a pick. Carried the ball a lot. A kick return for a touchdown. He's a phenomenal athlete. He made a lot of really nice plays.”

Quinn turned in another efficient game at quarterback, connecting for three touchdowns with no interceptions. For the season, Quinn has thrown for 2,265 yards passing with 24 touchdown passes and only three interceptions.

Hammer also had positive words for his defense, who had their hands full trying to contain Jackson quarterback Brandin Mincy, who passed for 305 yards. 

The young, improving defense came through with four turnovers: three interceptions and a fumble recovery. They also put plenty of pressure on Mincy.

"Franey Hygene had three sacks,” Hammer said. "Ty had the pick when they were down there ready to score. Dradley Avena had the pick and a fumble recovery, even though a blocking in the back called that one back. Really, all of them played well. At inside linebacker, we had to move some people around, so those guys did a nice job when Ayden Herrera got a little banged up. We'll see how he is on Monday."

Fourth-seed Lely (7-4) travels to Miami Friday, November 22, to take on top-seed and national power Miami Northwestern (9-2).