Published: September 13, 2008 01:05 am      

Titans dominate Bengal Tigers

Taylor excels on both sides of the ball to thump Peru 40-0

On the heels of last week’s heartbreaking overtime defeat to rival Western, Taylor’s football squad served notice that the Titans wouldn’t let that loss affect them as they pounded Peru 40-0 Friday night at Taylor on homecoming night.

“After that loss last week the team just was ready to get out on the field against anybody,” stated a happy Titan coach Josh Ousley. “We’re too good a team to let one loss ruin our season. We feel like we really have a chance to do something really special this season with this group.”

Taylor wasted little time getting back on the right track.

On just its second play after taking over on downs in the first quarter, senior quarterback Jake Leicht threw a perfect strike to a streaking Shawn Fogleman down the west sideline for a touchdown toss that covered 40 yards. Following an interception by Tommy Monroe, Leicht and Fogleman hooked up again to make it 14-0, this time from 26 yards out and the rout was on.

“That was a heck of an interception there by Monroe,” noted Ousley. “I still don’t know how he pulled that one in but that play pretty much set the tone for our defense. They [Peru] got some yards against us, but we have the ‘bend but don’t break’ philosophy.”

Freshman speedster Gordon Jenkins made it 20-0 with just 2:23 remaining in the first stanza when he burst around the corner and outran the Peru secondary on a 64-yard scoring jaunt down the east sideline. Leicht again showed his prowess under pressure with less than two minutes remaining in the half as he darted through would-be tacklers to find a wide open Austin Conwell in the back of the end zone for a five-yard scoring toss.

Jenkins hit paydirt again with just 1:30 left in the half, this time bursting around the right side for a 30-yard jaunt that for all intents and purposes put the game completely out of reach. Things could have gotten even uglier for Peru after Jenkins bolted 47 yards for another TD, however a penalty nullified the score.

Josh Steward concluded the scoring with a five-yard scoring strike from Leicht with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter.

On the night, Leicht clicked on an impressive 15-of-19 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns. Fogleman, in as fine of an all-around game as one could imagine, was on the receiving end of four of those tosses for 83 yards and the two touchdowns. Matt Williams hauled in three passes for 37 yards and defensively made an impressive one-handed interception, one of four the Titans picked off on the night. Jenkins finished with 89 yards rushing on just a half-dozen carries to anchor the ground game.

Fogleman also picked off a pair of Mason Zimmer passes in a stellar defensive outing and boomed one punt over 50 yards as well as another that pinned Peru inside its 10-yard line.

“Shawn played an outstanding game on both sides of the ball and he punted very well,” Ousley mused. “He came ready to play. But our entire defense was swarming to the ball and hitting hard. We missed a few tackles, but it was a wet field out there and that happens sometimes on nights like this. I was also very proud of the way the offensive line played. All in all the entire team played a very solid game.”

The 3-1 Titans visit Northwestern Friday night. Peru (1-3) hosts Cass next Friday.