CHARLES CITY — The South Tama County Trojans football team loads the bus Friday night to take a trip to Charles City. After last Friday’s loss to the Roland-Story Norsemen, STC looked to bounce back in this highly anticipated matchup against the Comets of Charles City.

The Trojan defense wasted no time establishing itself as a problem for the Comets offense. South Tama seniors Gavin Bridgewater and Kyan McBride lead the charge, stopping multiple runs from Charles City running back Isaiah Roe giving the ball back to the Trojans.

As the Trojan offense marched out on the field, Charles City’s defense matched the intensity. The Comets quickly showed their dominance to control the line of scrimmage stopping many Trojans runs in the backfield. Right off the bat both players and fans knew this was going to be a low scoring defensive showcase.

Eventually, the Charles City offense got rolling with their effective passing attack. Comets senior quarterback Jordan Foster stormed down the field going 4/4 on his passes ending with a touchdown to wide receiver Keenan Wiley. The Comets struck first as the score stood at 7-0 to end the first quarter.

Charles City continued its impressive defense into the second quarter, holding the Trojans scoreless in the first half, but where the Trojan offense struggled to get going, the defense picked up the slack providing momentum as the game went on.

The Comets offense was on the move again with several good runs and catches by Roe and Wiley placing them deep in Trojan territory. This time, Bridgewater and junior Tyrus Clegg stopped Comets receiver Wiley from reaching the end zone, batting down the pass from Foster holding Charles City to a field goal.

As the second quarter came to an end the Trojans found themselves backed up in their own red zone. But once again the defense rallied together, holding the Comets out of the end zone. As the Comets special teams unit ran out on the field to attempt a field goal the clock just ran out, giving the Trojans a momentum boost headed into the locker room with the score 10-0 in favor of Charles City.

Very similar to last week’s game, the Trojans came out in the second half with something to prove, and right away the offense took advantage of that mindset. Quarterback Daniel Wiese sparked the offensive success with multiple scrabbles for first downs as the Trojans marched down the field. This opened up the passing game for Wiese as he connected to senior tight end Jeramy Dolash for a 4-yard touchdown pass, giving the Trojans their first points of the season and setting the score at 10-7 Charles City to end the third quarter.

With all the momentum shifted to the favor of the Trojans, it was Charles City’s turn to see if they could get back control of this game. Taking advantage of a short field the Comets offense finds itself in the red zone, where this time they wouldn’t be denied as sophomore running back Deacon Caspers takes it to the house for a touchdown, extending the Charles City lead to 16-7.

With time no longer on South Tama’s side, the Trojan offense finds itself in urgent need of another offensive spark, but in the last few drives, the Comets’ defense was too strong to overcome stopping multiple Trojan fourth down attempts. Now with possession of the ball and the score in their favor, Charles City ran out the clock, posting the final score at 16-7 and handing South Tama its second loss of the season.

Even with the obvious improvements on both sides of the ball, the Trojans fall just short in this very competitive Week 2 battle. Now, South Tama looks forward to going toe to toe with the Knoxville Panthers next Friday at home.