Trojans coming to town looking to spoil Ware County’s homecoming
Sixth-ranked Ware County will have its hands full Friday night at homecoming with Florida Class 5A 10th-ranked Lincoln of Tallahassee making the trek to the swamp.
The Trojans (2-1) are coming in off a 47-10 spanking at Nease in their last game two weeks ago. The Gators (4-0) escaped with a 21-14 victory at Bartram Trail.
Friday’s matchup inside Memorial Stadium is the second between the two schools with each coming off a bye week. Lincoln spoiled homecoming last year blanking the Gators 10-0 surrendering just 90 yards of offense.
Nine starters graduated from the Trojans’ 2024 unit that held eight opponents to seven points or less during a 10-3 campaign.
“They have another really good football team,” said Ware County head coach Jason Strickland. “Lincoln came in here last year and completely shut us down. Nease got them (Trojans) pretty good in their last game. But from what I’ve seen is Lincoln is pretty salty in all three phases (offense, defense, special teams).”
Lincoln’s 3-4 defensive alignment is disruptive coming from all angles.
“They (Trojans) do everything under the sun defensively,” Strickland said. “You can tell it’s packaged. They do a really good job of simulating blitzes. They just disguise so well where it looks like it’s coming from one side and then it comes from the other side. “They do a really good job of disguising coverages with their secondary. They move around a lot of front trying to confuse blocking assignments. And they are going to blitz. About 82 percent of the snaps they’ve played they’ve pressured in some form of fashion.”
Senior cornerback Malachi Acosta (6-foot, 170) and junior defensive end Jackson Mitchell (6-3, 215) are tied for the team lead with 24 tackles.
Junior safety Keyshawn Richardson (6-foot, 170) is next with 23. He also has a pass int ercep tion. Senior linebacker Caleb Anderson (6-1, 185) is fourth with 22 stops and has a team-high three tackles for loss and has caused two fumbles.
Senior defensive end Jaylin Parrish (6-3, 255) is the one who has caught Strickland’s eye. Parrish has 13 tackles, two for loss and a quarterback sack.
“He’s just a really, really good player coming off the edge,” said Strickland.
The veteran head coach said the biggest obstacle for his offense is trying to simulate what Lincoln does defensively.
“It’s going to be really hard to simulate,” Strickland said. “The biggest thing for our offensive linemen is stepping with the correct foot and getting the right leverage. We cant let all the movement with their (Trojans) defensive line make us play slow, which is what I think happened Perhaps the biggest thing, according to Strickland, will be the communication amongst the linemen.
“It’s because of what they do,” Strickland said of the Trojans. “There’ll be a lot more calls going in, especially in the run game, and then obviously in protection. The communication aspect will come from Landon (Smallwood; center) to the rest of the line.
“A big part of what we (coaches) are doing is looking at the film for indicators (tendencies) we can give that offensive line group. They’re smart. They’ve played a lot of football, but this will be a big, big test for them.”
Lincoln has scored 69 points through three games (23 points per) behind senior transfer quarterback Taylor Jacobs, Jr. (6-1, 190). He has completed 66% of his passes (53-for-80) for 592 yards with five touchdowns against three interceptions. He also has a teamhigh 81 yards rushing and a score.
“He’s one of the top dual threat quarterbacks coming out of Florida this year and he looks the part,” said Strickland. “He can kill you with his legs and he throws the ball really, really well. What we (coaches) feel like we’re going to see is them a lot of 10 personnel (four wide receivers, running back) with screens and then using him in the running game in some form of fashion. That’s what we kind of expect.”
While the passing game is generating 197.3 yards per game, the Trojans are in search of a ground attack. They are averaging just 86 yards per game.
Senior Maliek Denmark (6-2, 180) is the leading receiver with 17 catches for 246 yards (14.5 per catch) and two scores. Senior Kabran Paul (5-9, 155) has 11 receptions for 83 yards and two scores. Junior Trevor Jacobs (511, 175) has nine catches for 114 yards (12.7 per).
“The big thing is we have to contain the quarterback,” Strickland said. “We can’t let him kill us running and throwing. They (Trojans) are a big screen team so we’ve got to rally and get hats to the ball.
“They’re trying to get you thinking wide and then hit you up the middle in the run game. So, we have to keep enough bodies closer to the box to watch those guys. We’ve got to be great tacklers. We’re going to have to really, really tackle well in open space and get the quarterback wrapped up.”
Strickland said his squad had an excellent week of practice during the open date.
“It was physical,” he said. “There were some guys we (coaches) held out as they recover from an injury. The good thing is we were able to get in a lot of reps with some of our younger players. I thought it was really, really good week.”
