Charles Henderson’s Trojans won a hard-fought high school football game at Andalusia Municipal Stadium on Friday by a final score of 28-7.

Trojan Head Coach Hugh Fountain said it was good to get a win against a talented Andalusia team, but he was not impressed with the overall performance of his players.

"We played sloppy in the first half," Fountain said. "We got the job done in the fourth quarter when we had to. The running game came through for us in the fourth quarter.

"We did a lot of sloppy things, but you have to give Andalusia credit," he added. "They played well and gave us some problems. They have a good football team and they played us hard."

The game began with big hits, including one by Andalusia junior Richard Justice that sent the Trojans’ Melvin Scott to the sideline on the first series of the game. Scott was later taken to the hospital. Andalusia assistant coaches said Scott was "throwing up blood" and suspected that he had broken a rib.

The Trojans responded by getting a turnover to gain good field position when Chima McClain intercepted a pass at the Andalusia 30-yard line and returned it to the 27.

Andalusia Head Coach Paul Woolley said the early interception was costly.

"It was mighty big," Woolley said when describing the impact of the turnover.

The Trojans almost gave the ball back to the Bulldogs when quarterback Pete Van Horn threw a pass that went through the hands of Andalusia’s Ashley Bowers.

Charles Henderson’s offense took advantage of their second chance with an 18-yard touchdown run by Jarvis Woods two plays later. Josh Post’s PAT attempt was good and the Trojans had a 7-0 lead with 8:51 remaining in the opening quarter.

The defenses for both squads shined the rest of the first half as neither team managed to score.

A low snap on a punt attempt gave Charles Henderson good field position when the punt was partially blocked, but the offense failed to take advantage. The Bulldogs caught a break when Mark Wall caused a fumble and Kevin Dohoney recovered it at the Andalusia 30-yard line. The Bulldogs’ offense, however, turned the ball back over to the Trojans after earning a first down on a fourth-and-short play when Robert Carthon powered his way up the middle.

On first down, McClain intercepted his second pass of the game to halt the Bulldogs’ offense. Andalusia’s defense continued to play hard with Mark Wall making two bone-crunching hits and Ben Kilpatrick recording a quarterback sack.

Charles Henderson’s defense also played well and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard when Andalusia missed a 50-yard field goal attempt right before the halftime intermission.

The third quarter was more of the same as the two defensive units continued to dominate until late in the period when the Trojans scored again.

Andalusia’s defense set the Charles Henderson offense in the wrong direction of the drive when Bowers, Kyle Grissett and Chris Owens teamed up to drop Duran Boykin for a six-yard loss.

The Trojans answered four plays later when Boykin scored on a 13-yard run. Post added the PAT and the Trojans held a 14-0 advantage with 11 seconds left to play in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs answered the Trojans’ scoring drive with one of their own. They took the ensuing kickoff and went 66 yards for a touchdown.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against CHHS moved the ball from the Andalusia 36-yard line to the Charles Henderson 47-yard line. Three plays later, the Bulldogs were on the scoreboard when C.T. Eldridge found Richard Justice on a 36-yard pass play.

Gene Pickard added the PAT and Andalusia trailed the Trojans 14-7.

Woods helped the Trojans answer with a 55-yard touchdown run on their next possession. The PAT was good and the Trojans held a 21-7 lead with 7:32 remaining in regulation.

Fred Jones capped off the scoring with a 50-yard touchdown run with 4:07 left to play to increase the Trojans’ lead to 28-7 after Post’s extra point.

Woods led all CHHS rushers with 94 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns.

Overall, Woolley said his squad did not execute well against the Trojans.

"We just could not line up tonight and run against them," he said.

The running backs, however, did receive a little praise following the loss.

"You can’t fault them for not running hard because they did," Woolley said.

The win improves the Trojans’ record to 7-1 with a region game at Wilcox

Central set for Friday, Nov. 2.

Andalusia is now 4-5 on the season with the winless Opp Bobcats left on the

schedule.