The Firebirds displayed all those traits Friday night in a 35-0 victory over a young Trotwood-Madison team at Roush Stadium.
“He’s preaching it every day – go harder, go longer than anybody else,” said junior fullback Drew Baker. “That’s working. When we get on the field, the other team knows what’s coming.”
Offensively, it was Baker 28 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns leading the ball-control offense. When it wasn’t Baker, it was quarterback Male’k Hillon and others running wide on third down. The Firebirds (2-0) completed all three passes they threw for 53 yards – one by Hillon for an 11-yard touchdown to AJ Mullen and one each by Dylan Krieger and Will Porter on option plays to keep drives alive. And Will Holt kicked field goals of 27 and 43 yards.
“Our line was just dominating,” said Baker, who has rushed for 296 yards in two games. “We were lower and faster, and the holes opened up and I was just the one running through them.”
Baker gets most of his yards straight ahead and takes a beating. But on the game’s biggest play, he dished it out and for the first time the Trotwood defense was chasing. Baker broke three tackles in the first five yards, then was gone down the left sideline for a 54-yard touchdown and a 25-0 lead with 4:21 left in the third quarter.
“Great individual effort,” Miller said. “The kid is one of the hardest workers in the offseason and just relentless. That was a product of it.”
Trotwood (0-2) has yet to score. The Firebirds outgained them 370-54 and limited them to six plays in the second half. The Firebirds squibbed two kickoffs and recovered the one to open the half and the one after Baker’s long touchdown.
“This isn’t even half of the season, so we’ve just got to keep working hard and keep preparing,” Rams coach Jeff Graham said. “The guys who haven’t played need to learn at this level how the game of football is played.”
Graham has two returning starters on defense and none on offense. Timothy Carpenter is a sophomore starting at quarterback. The most experienced player is West Carrollton transfer and receiver Ka’Maury Cleveland.
“I thought if we played good football we could come in here and do some things in this game,” Graham said. “They’ve got to rebuild themselves and understand we have to be disciplined in order to be a good team.”
The Firebirds sacked Carpenter twice, allowed three first downs and disrupted almost every play. Last week they held Alter to 177 yards and eight first downs in a 16-7 victory.
“Our chemistry is really good, we understand what our jobs were and just kept hitting them,” middle linebacker Malachi Bowling said. “This is a smashmouth defense just like our offense is a smashmouth offense.”
So far, the offense and defense are complementing each other. The offense keeps the defense rested with time-consuming drives and the defense is giving them the ball back. They’ve done it against two of the most tradition-rich programs in the area. Trotwood won its most recent state title in 2019.
“We made a lot of mistakes and still put 35 points on a team like that with their tradition and pride, that’s impressive,” Miller said. “The zero on the scoreboard is even more impressive with all the athletes they have.”
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