Carpenter went 11-for-20 for 216 yards and three TDs through the air and rushed for 89 yards on nine carries as Trotwood-Madison won its first game of the season.
“We refused to go 0-4,” Carpenter said. “In the fourth quarter, we stayed strong and didn’t let the adversity get the best of us. We stayed strong, fought through it and came home with a W.”
Junior wide receiver Quinten Johnson caught five passes for 109 yards and two TDs, while freshman Armani Rogers caught a 60-yard TD pass in the victory.
Trotwood-Madison went 0-4 last season and knew it would face another tough stretch to open this season against Winton Woods, Fairmont and Springfield — all of which are undefeated.
“We knew we had a tough road these first five games,” said Rams coach Jeff Graham. “We just wanted to go out and compete at the best level we could to see what we could do. I think our kids are starting to grow from that and learn from some of the mistakes we made in those previous games. The game is 48 minutes and you’ve got to keep fighting. I think we did that today.”
Alter sophomore quarterback Gavin Connor went 11-for-23 for 129 yards and a TD through the air and rushed for a score. Knights sophomore Vinny Purcell rushed 18 times for 108 yards and a TD, while senior Ethan Willits caught a 26-yard TD pass. Alter (2-2) hosts Cincinnati Northwest next Friday night.
“(Trotwood) made the plays in the second half that won them the ball game,” said Knights coach Ed Domsitz. “You’ve got to be able to block and tackle in a close ball game. We made some mistakes. We aren’t able to tackle as well as I’d hoped. That hurts. We’re young, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse because our kids were physical. We played with some intensity. You just have to master the different techniques, the fundamentals and we didn’t do that as well as we needed.”
Fourth quarter: Trotwood 26, Alter 24. Carpenter converts a key fourth down in Alter territory. :38 remaining. pic.twitter.com/hmoF2V3rMb
— Michael Cooper (@ByMichaelCooper) September 9, 2022
Alter took an early 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Connor and extended the lead to 10-0 after Tony Arcuri hit a 38-yard field goal.
The Rams cut the lead to four points when junior Michael Smith scored on a 29-yard run with 3:30 remaining in the first half.
Early in the third quarter, Purcell scored on a 54-yard run to give Alter a 17-6 lead.
Trotwood-Madison responded with a 55-yard TD pass from Carpenter to Johnson to make it 17-14.
With 11:08 remaining, Connor hit Willits on a 26-yard TD pass to give the Knights a 24-14 lead.
A few minutes later, Carpenter connected with Johnson on a 20-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 24-20. The Rams forced a three-and-out, giving the ball back to Carpenter with the game on the line.
“I kept telling them one play at a time, one play at a time and they really bought into that,” Graham said.
A few plays later, Carpenter found Rogers break open across the middle and hit him in stride for a 60-yard go-ahead touchdown that gave the Rams a 26-24 lead they would never relinquish.
After an interception by Adam Williams gave Trotwood-Madison the ball back in Knights territory, Carpenter converted a key fourth down to put the Rams in victory formation.
“We’ve been asking him to do that and I think it’s been a lot of pressure on him early on,” Graham said. “I think he’s the kind of guy that needs to get into a rhythm. You’ve got to get him in a rhythm before he really starts showing his talents. He was running the ball and those are things he’s doing on his own. We want him to keep getting better and he’ll do that.”
The Rams face another tough test next Friday night at home against Withrow. The victory against a quality program with a rich tradition was huge for Trotwood, Graham said.
“It’s about beating a quality program,” he said. “It’s good that we were able to compete, worked hard and got the victory.”
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