A healthy combination of rain and a deficit on the scoreboard sent the Homer crowd home early on Friday, as the Trojans fell to the Institute of Technology 16-6 at Homer High School.
Unforced errors put the Trojans in the red late in the game, with multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties giving the Eagles optimal field position to score all of their points in the final quarter.
“That wasn’t Homer football,” Trojans head coach Greg Roskos said. “That was a lack of discipline. It was embarrassing.”
“We have to be more disciplined,” Roskos added. “Everything in a game is a reflection of how you practice. We have to be more disciplined in everything we do in practice so we can be more disciplined in the game. (Friday night), we wanted to make it more of a screaming match than a football game, which was unfortunate.”
ITC’s Nyquan Gilbert capitalized on the miscues, picking off Homer quarterback Max Franco twice before catching a 10-yard pass from his own quarterback, Tyquanne Harris, and extending into the end zone to tie the game.
The Trojans started the game by dominating through the run. Leading the charge was standout Alex Votra, who carried the ball 29 times for 142 yards and scored Homer’s lone touchdown. By the start of the second half, the Eagles had gotten wise to the Trojans’ reliance on Votra, loading the box and going all-out to deny Homer the ground game.
“They were doing a good job of bringing everyone in to stop the run,” Roskos said. “We tried to throw it deep a few times and it got picked off. We were fortunate the last few games, we hit a couple deep balls, but tonight we couldn’t get the passing game going. they were able to stay loaded in the box and prevented us from running against them.”
The Eagles fared much better throwing the football, with Harris completing 11 of 12 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. After taking the lead on the strike to Gilbert, Harris threw a checkdown to wideout Christian Perry and watched him fly down the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown and put a dagger in Homer’s homecoming celebration.
Homer, now 2-3, will look to bounce back at 7 p.m. Friday. The Trojans will make the long drive north to Indian River to right the ship against a high-power Wolves squad that spent their Friday night hanging 72 points on Watertown.
