Sports Writer

Starting a season 0-3 can give you a pretty empty feeling inside, especially if you only play an eight-game schedule.

The Charles Henderson Middle School Trojans managed to avoid starting the year with three losses by snapping a two game losing streak and dodging a bullet in the fourth quarter.

After dropping their season opener 8-0 to DA Smith and falling 20-8 to Greenville, the Trojan faithful were getting a little impatient. The Trojan players were also hungry for a win, and they got one in a big way winning 6-0 over Andalusia Tuesday night.

CHMS held a 6-0 lead to start the fourth quarter, but Andalusia put together a nine-play drive to mount a serious threat. On fourth down and nine, the Bulldogs’ quarterback Matt Mellown threw to a wide open D’Andre Lee, on the goal line, but the ball slipped through his arms.

To open the game both teams struggled on offense while the defenses flourished by causing turnovers and wrecking havoc on slow developing plays. Leading the defense for the Trojans was Josh Tyner, (four tackles and an interception), Demonte King, (two tackles and one interception), and Reginal Toney with three tackles.

The Trojans only points of the night came on a touchdown run by tailback William Woods. CHMS started the drive by pounding the ball up the middle with a combination of Toney and Tyner. Two penalties, a face-mask call and a false start, cost the Trojans 10 yards. CHMS head coach Forrest Lee called Woods’ number on a third and five situation and Woods took care of the rest.

With 5:05 remaining in the third quarter Woods took the hand-off and slipped several tackles racing 53 yards for the score. The Trojans Russell Salmon tried to connect with backup quarterback Chase Bradley for the two-point conversion but the pass sailed high and the CHMS had to settle for a six point lead.

The Trojans used a familiar strategy to hang on to the lead. They used short running plays to run huge portions of the clock off in a ball control offense. Running out of a power-I and a wing-T offense most of the night Charles Henderson piled up 189 yards rushing as a team.

On the flip side of that statistic, though, the Trojans only attempted two passes on the night. One pass was for no gain and the other was an incomplete pass.

Woods led the rushing attack by gaining 86 yards on four carries and scoring a touchdown. Toney rushed for 45 yards, Tyner had 38 yards, and King, Bradley, and Jhakenda Fayson combined for 20 yards.

Because of the terrorist attacks which took place in Washington D.C. and New York City earlier that morning, Lee said the contest itself was secondary to the outpouring of patriotism and grief felt before and during the game.

"We talked to our kids for about an hour about what happened and had some personal testimony," Lee said. "We wore American flags on our helmets, had a moment of silence and flew the flag at half-mast."

The Trojans,1-2, hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to Ozark on September 20. They will try to avenge their season opening loss to DA Smith in a game that is set for 5p.m.