Defense shines for Troup in spring game
Published 11:45 am Saturday, May 22, 2021
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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY
Daily News
NEWNAN – The Troup Tigers flexed their defensive muscles during Friday’s spring game against the Newnan Cougars.
In a game where yards were hard to come by, Troup’s defense didn’t allow a point until Newnan scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to claim a 7-0 victory.
Troup’s offense, meanwhile, struggled to get anything going, and that was due in large part to the rules that were in place for the game.
The quarterbacks weren’t permitted to run, which put Troup at a disadvantage since the ground game is such an important part of what Taeo Todd does.
During a breakthrough freshman season, Todd ran for nearly 1,500 yards and was named the Region 2-AAAA offensive player of the year.
The highlight of the night was without question the performance of a defense that was suffocating. During one stretch in the first half, Tay Shells had back-to-back sacks, and on the next play, Newnan’s quarterback was pressured and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down.
That was mostly how things went on the night until Newnan scored the game’s lone touchdown in the second half.
“Defensively, I was pleased with our physicality,” said LaGrange head coach Tanner Glisson. “We can run around, and we can be physical, so that’s a good thing.”
On offense, the Tigers were limited in what they could do with Todd confined to the pocket.
Todd threw some nice passes during the game, including one nearly 50 yards down the field that glanced off a receiver’s hands, but the Tigers were unable to sustain anything offensively.
“With Taeo unable to run the ball, and they were able to commit so many people to the run game,” Glisson said. “And we’ve got to do some work with the wide receivers.”
All in all, Glisson considered it a successful outing.
“For the most part we got after it when we needed to, and we got out of there healthy,” Glisson said.
