SHELBYVILLE — For the first two quarters of Friday’s game between Collins and Woodford County, the Titans looked like the team in control, even though they were coming off back-to-back losses and quarterback Kade Goodin was playing for the first time in three weeks.
After Darrian Tomlin’s 37-yard touchdown run in the first quarter put Woodford up, Collins answered with a Gage Miller field goal and two Goodin rushing touchdowns to put the pressure back on the team from Versailles.
Even when Foxx Coons found Omari Jointer to cut the Titans’ lead to three with just over three minutes to play in the half, Collins had no issue marching down the field and scoring when Goodin found Avi Delaney to go into the half up 10 and starting the second half with the ball.
But that’s where the script flipped.
Woodford shut the Titans down and shut them out in the second half and scored 28 unanswered points to cruise to a 42-24 win.
“We had things we made in the first half that we just couldn’t make in the second half and you play a team like them, you have to make plays all four quarters,” head coach Jerry Lucas said. “That stuff just builds on you. They’re going to get theirs, you have to make sure you get yours.”
The second half was mostly stopping and starting for the Titans. Everything that worked in the first half didn’t in the second and the big plays Collins did make were negated by penalties.
“You’re never going to be happy with everything. I felt like, right off the bat, our first three series, we had three holding calls,” Lucas said. “I’m the kind of guy who says you can holding on every play, but those are drive killers. You’ve got to avoid those types of things.”
Even still, Collins lined up for a third-quarter field goal with a chance to tie it at 27 and a kicker in Miller who has shown he has the leg to make it, but the Yellow Jackets blocked the kick and scored on the ensuing drive and Miller was knocked out of the game on the play.
“It’s a 10-point swing. That’s tough,” Lucas said about the play. “That was a big momentum shift for them, blocking that kick. They went down the field and scored after that. So now we didn’t get three, they get seven. That’s a big shift.”
After reining in Coons for most of the first half, the junior ended up finding his groove in the second, finishing with 124 yards and four touchdowns, perhaps none more brutal than a 91-yard bomb to Kael Rihtar, the final scoring play of the game early in the fourth.
“Defensively, we were flying around and that’s a tough team to stop. I think we did a good job of containing them. We let them have two or three big plays in the second half and we talked about that before the game and half time, you have to make them earn it,” Lucas said. “The bigger key for us coming in was making sure we did what we needed to do on the offensive side of the ball. You can put a lot of pressure on them if you’re scoring.”
The positives for the Titans are that Goodin looked good in his first game back – he ran for 77 yards with two touchdowns and threw for 285 yards with the TD to Delaney, who finished a yard shy of 100. Goodin spread the ball around to his receivers, with Jason Hence hauling in four balls for 96 yards, Jayden Martin had three catches for 50 yards and Logan Huelsman had two catches for 32 yards, with a big reception called back for holding.
“I think a lot of it is just timing. You can practice during the week, but field speed is a whole different thing, but I think he came out and battled his butt off tonight and our lineman did too, our receivers did too,” Lucas said. “We didn’t call as many runs as we normally would. You want to make sure you ease your way into these things, but he was fine, he looked good. He had 77 yards rushing on 10 carries and a couple of touchdowns and 285 yards passing – when that’s not your best day, you’re pretty good.”
Continuing to build on those positives will be key for Collins, who only have two games left before the postseason.
“We’ve got Anderson and South Oldham and we’ve got to take care of business to put ourselves in a position in the playoffs,” Lucas said. “I’ve told the kids from day one – we play in a great district and, no matter if you’re at home or on the road, Scott County and Woodford, you’ll have to go through them to advance. We’re going to see these teams again.”
After South Oldham, the Titans have their bye week, which, Lucas explained, will give them a chance to heal up and prepare for whoever that opening round opponent will be. It’s a change of philosophy for the long-time coach, but one he thinks will ultimately pay off.
“That was a theory of ours going into this thing – we take that bye week the last week of the season and see if we can get rid some bumps and bruises, work on some things we need to and scout our opponent in the first round,” he said. “It’s new territory for us, but we’ll see how it goes.”
NEXT GAME — Collins sits at 5-3 on the season after dropping three straight, including two district games. The Titans host Anderson County Friday and travel to South Oldham on Oct. 24.