St. Michael gets their second consecutive shutout against Tara

St. Michael the Archangel High School secured its second win of the season on homecoming night against the Tara High School Trojans in a dominant defensive performance with a final score of 30-0.

The St. Michael Warriors were coming off of another win against Broadmoor before Friday’s game against the Trojans, who were coming from a loss attempting to regroup.

The Warriors started the game how they ended it, heavy run game on offense and a fearsome pass rush on defense. The defense allowed no scores throughout the game despite being placed in the red zone a multitude of times.

On the other side, Tara’s defense could not seem to contain the Warriors’ elusive running schemes. The warriors threw the ball less than five times, despite having significant success, and would chalk up three rushing touchdowns, two by freshman quarterback Damon Blocker.

Senior fullback and outside linebacker Eric Thibodaux stiff arms a Tara defensive back to get the first down.

Tara’s offense had similar success with the passing game, which became evident in the latter part of the game, but underutilized it. Senior quarterback Jaylon Lathers was pressured too much to get any RPO or deep throws off, taking a plethora of sacks and two interceptions. One interception would lead to a score by the previous player of the week, junior athlete Nick Johnson.

“We prepared for these guys extremely well, it’s just gonna have to transfer into next week as well,” Nick said in a post-game interview with St. Michael’s turnover belt.

Momentum pushes by the Warrior defense, especially the early safety in the first half, would lead to St. Michael’s prosperity on the offensive end. With the help of Damon and his running capabilities, the Warriors left Olympia stadium with another shutout, while the Trojans left with a second consecutive defeat.

“It’s a big jump, seeing those dudes that are bigger than me,” Damon said in a post-game interview describing what it’s like stepping up at the varsity level as a freshman. “It’s different.”