Rams Squeeze past Trojans to Win 23-20 in Overtime

The Whitehall Trojan football team had a rough start on Friday, September 29 in Missoula, with the Loyola Rams scoring their first touchdown a few minutes into the game. The Trojan offense struggled to move the ball down the field and handed the ball back to Loyola with a punt. Loyola’s offense also struggled, facing a quarterback sack by #54 sophomore Dawson McDonald, before punting the ball back to Whitehall. Once again, the offense failed to move the ball down the field effectively and the first quarter ended 7-0.

In the second quarter, Whitehall punted the ball back to Loyola. Loyola’s QB connected with his man for a second touchdown to raise the score to 14-0. The Trojan offense continued to struggle to move the ball down the field, but Whitehall’s defense, under the leadership of #77 junior Ethan Wock started to gel as the first half of the game came to an end.

In the third quarter, Whitehall’s QB #2 junior Joe Denny created a series of plays to move the ball down the field and connected a pass to #4 senior Campbell Smith who ran in the touchdown, helping Whitehall to finally put points on the scoreboard. Loyola took over the ball and hit a strong defensive wall of Trojans, including #72 senior Michael Diefenderfer with his first of two quarterback sacks.

In the fourth quarter, both Loyola and Whitehall struggled to gain momentum. Denny finally connected to #11 senior Andrew Bacon who made a 50-yard run down a wide-open field to tie the game 14-14. Loyola took over and ended their march down the field with a field goal. Whitehall responded with a field goal of their own with just 2.4 seconds remaining in regular play.

Whitehall started overtime with possession of the ball, relying on #9 senior Cy Tebay, one of the most consistent kickers in the state, to score another field goal and put Whitehall in the lead at 20-17. Loyola then took possession of the ball and despite a hard-fought push by the Trojan defense they managed to score a touchdown and bring the game to a close with a score of 23-20.

Although the team was disappointed, Trojan fans in attendance all agreed that this was one of the best games of the season.

The Trojans return to Trojan Country Friday, October 6th for WHS Homecoming vs the Anaconda Copperheads. The game begins at 7 PM, with the crowning of Homecoming Royalty during halftime.