Summer Scrimmage: Trojans line held against larger sized teams

The Trojans football program scrimmaged two other schools Saturday, Chaparral and Silverado high schools. The varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams all took part in the scrimmage.

Silverado is a Division I school and Chaparral plays Division I-A ball in the Sunrise League.

Silverado has received some extra attention because their coach is former NFL quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Randall Cunningham.

"His team was well coached," Trojans coach Adam Gent said. "I got a chance to chat with him during the scrimmage and he was a class act."

Gent said his Trojans scored against both teams.

"We still have some work to do on defense," he said. "We did well at blocking up front and protecting TJ Milk. I love the challenge and it puts a smile on my face."

This was a concern during the summer because the Trojans had lost so many linemen to graduation. Considering Silverado was a bit bigger in size on the line, the coach was pleased and he liked the way his linemen were quick to get out in front to block.

"Our linemen showed their speed," he said.

The coach said his team is ready to face the Del Sol Dragons in two days, which is an away game. Game time is 7 p.m. (see game preview on Friday.) Last year the Dragons were a .500 team.

The team also thought they did well against both teams. Senior Tyler Baumgarten, who plays offensive guard and defensive end was confident the team was headed in the right direction.

"We did really well against Chaparral High School," he said. "We didn't really get to play against Silverado's defense but we saw a lot of their offense."

Senior running back Tommy Gascoigne said he had a great Saturday. He had over 600 yards rushing last year and will be the featured back along with senior Aaron Fuentes.

"Playing against other teams allowed us to work out the kinks," Gascoigne said. "I learned that I will need to work on my blocking downfield. Now that we are in the spread, I think it has opened up our running game and has made it easier to run. We also have a lot more variety on offense and I look forward to putting a lot more points on the board."

Pahrump got to see a bigger line in Silverado but that really didn't faze Gascoigne.

"They had some big linebackers, but really they were a little hesitant to fill their gaps," he said. "I hit them, they didn't hit me."

When asked if the team was ready for this week's game against Del Sol, Gascoigne replied, "We are ready and we are going out there to prove to Ray Brewer of the Sun that he was wrong about us. I am going to run the ball down the Dragons' throat."

Gascoigne is referring to a podcast made by sports writers Ray Brewer and Case Keefer of the Las Vegas Sun, where the two rated Las Vegas prep football teams. In the podcast they disrespect Pahrump by putting them at the bottom of the Sunset League with Western.

"Sunrise Mountain will open with Western and Pahrump Valley," Keefer said. And Brewer then said, "Then Sunrise Mountain will be 2-0."

Trojans quarterback TJ Milk laughed when I asked him about Brewer's podcast.

"Brewer got us fired up," Milk said. "He did a good job of motivating us."

Milk agreed with his teammates and thought the team did well at the scrimmage.

"I thought we did great and we have something to build on," the quarterback said. "We ran and passed well against the other teams and had no fumbles. I also had no problems taking snaps from the center. (a possible area of concern because the Trojans now are in the shotgun). We are excited to play this Friday."