Tom Munds

The winner of the Sept. 19 En glewood homecoming football game against Alameda earns bragging rights as the best Pirate team in the league plus the added bonus of a year’s possession of the newly created Anchor Cup.

Pirates are the mascot for both teams, plus Alameda and Englewood both adopted blue and white as school colors. The two teams have been rivals for years and this year, the Alameda coach introduced a new prize, the Anchor Cup.

“The Anchor Cup is a trophy the winning team gets to keep for a year and there will be a plaque on the trophy for each year’s game,” Englewood coach Matt Bednorz said. “I know our players want to win the new trophy so it’s just another incentive to win the game.”

The game is Englewood ’s homecoming and the kickoff is 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at Englewood High School Stadium, located east of the school at Logan and Mansfield. Special halftime ceremonies include the crowning of this year’s homecoming king and queen. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students with school identification.

An alumni reception will be held in the school commons immediately after the game. All former EHS students are invited.

Like Englewood , Alameda has a new coach but still likes to launch its potent ground attack out of the pro set formation. Defensively, they set up in a basic 4-4 alignment.

Englewood comes into the game 0-3 after a 41-14 loss to D’Evelyn.

“We lost the game but we saw a lot of good things out there on the field tonight,” Bednorz said. “We finally got the offense working and scored some points. That is a big step for us.”

Andrew Trigg got the Pirates’ first TD. In the third period, he exploded through the line on a trap play and carried the ball 22 yards into the end zone. Jacob Lowder added the extra point. Then, in the fourth quarter, the Pirates drove down and Dan Woosley bulled his way across the goal line from a yard out for the touchdown and Lowder added the extra point that ended the Pirates’ scoring for the night.

Trigg led the team in rushing as he carried 16 times for 54 yards, which included the 22-yard TD run. The Pirates also had their best night passing. Aaron Sloan completed 10 of 30 passes for 121 yards. Peter Stevens was the leading receiver as he hauled in six passes for 92 yards.

Bednorz noted the team also did some good things defensively, including several tackles behind the line of scrimmage for losses, plus the Pirates sacked the D’Evelyn quarterback six times.

Josh Bateman was the tackle leader with seven solo hits and five assists. Trigg had six first hits and six assists while Lowder had seven solo tackles and three assists.

“We looked better on defense but we still have a lot of work to do,” the coach said. “We haven’t been doing a good job tackling even though that is something we work on every week in practice. We also have to work on improving the play of our defensive backs.”

The coach said he knew it would be a test since this is basically a rebuilding season.

“We are basically a pretty young team with a lot of kids whose high school football experience was on the JV squad last year,” Bednorz said. “Unfortunately, we have a very small roster so we don’t have the luxury of bringing the young kids along by playing them from time to time. Instead, we have to put them into our lineup as starters and first-line reserves so they are learning under fire. We are getting better and I give the kids credit for working hard and playing hard any time they are on the field."

At a Glance

Englewood look for first win in homecoming game.

Englewood scored first TD's in 41-14 loss