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It certainly wasn’t your typical high school football game, but it was a huge statement for Morristown West in the Region One 5-A football race.

The Trojans started the Homecoming game six days earlier and then completed a 30-0 trouncing of Daniel Boone at Burke-Toney Stadium Thursday night for their second league win and third in four games.

It started on Friday of last week with Coach Alvin Sanders’ club holding a 3-0 lead with 1:38 left in the opening quarter when the game was stopped for a lightning delay and eventually postponed.

On Thursday, the Trojans scored with less than a second left in the first half and then put touchdowns on the board on their first three possessions after intermission and that was more than enough for the dominating West defense.

West held the Trailblazers, now 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the region, to 89 yards total offense for the game and withstood every challenge in posting their first shutout since September of 2021.

Senior quarterback Malakhi Isom led the victory. He connected on 11 of 16 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a score.

Camren Richards topped the running attack with 73 yards and a TD on a dozen carries. Isom chipped in 55 on 14 tries but the Trojans wound up with only 95 yards on the ground because of several bad snaps that cost them a total of 61 yards.

Defensively, West allowed only 21 yards rushing while Boone quarterback Luke Jenkins completed just 12 of 24 passes for 68 yards.

Sanders was pleased with the effort of his team. “We got off to a slow start. I thought we were just trying to feel the game out instead of coming out and competing.

“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes and as coaches we just wanted to get to halftime, get the kids settled down and come out and play better football in the second half. That’s exactly what happened.”

Sanders went on to say, “We got them refocused and came out and played Trojans football. It wasn’t mistake-free football but we played with enthusiasm and played together and it showed up on the scoreboard. I was very proud of our second-half effort.

“Our defense played lights out,” he said. “We put them in bad position with a bad snap but they came in and still kept them from scoring. My hat’s off to the defensive staff and those kids. What a night they had.”

The coach commented, “I loved the way Malakhi competed. He’s getting better ever week. And I loved the way Cam ran the football. It was a really good night for our skilled guys.”

Sanders was asked about starting a game and finishing it almost a week later. “In all my years of playing and coaching, I’ve never experienced anything like that.

“It’s the wildest thing. You know, with the layover both teams had a chance to make adjustments to what the other did at the start of the game. Offensively, we hadn’t shown a whole lot so we didn’t have to change much but defensively, we kind of knew how they were going to attack us and that helped.”

Sanders also talked about the return of kicker Dylan Lopez, the regular placekicker last season. Lopez kicked a field goal in the first quarter and five of his six kickoffs went into the endzone. “When the other team has to start at their 20 like that, that’s a weapon for our defense.”

Lopez supplied the only points in the first session of the game by booting a 27-yard field goal just before the lightning appeared.

The kick capped a drive that started after a Boone punt backed West to its own 16. A bad snap caused a loss back to the10 on the first play but Isom fired a pass to John Michael Rosen that wound up as a 31-yard gain on the next play.

Isom hit Bricyn Gudger with a short out pass three plays later and Gudger turned it into a 25-yard gain to the Trailblazers’ 36. Richards ran for 17 yards on the next play and Boone took a time out. When the drive bogged down, Lopez drilled the three-pointer.

There was just enough time for the kickoff before the six-day delay began.

When play resumed on Thursday, the ‘Blazers got a first down before having to punt. West couldn’t move the ball and Gavin Mitchell was back to punt from the 48 when the ball was snapped over his head. He raced back and picked it up at the 18 but was tackled at the 22 giving the visitors a huge chance to take the lead.

Jenkins completed an eight-yard pass to Casey Fitzwater on the first play but Aiden Riner was tackled for a two-yard loss on the next. After an incomplete pass, the ‘Blazers were lined up for a 33-yard field goal when Riner picked up the snap and was tackled for a 17-yard loss by Jalen McCullough.

The Blazers had only one other real chance to score in the game.

West got three first downs but had to punt. Boone got a couple of penalties and had to punt from its 5. The Trojans got good field position as the ball was downed at the DB 36.

Isom scrambled for a 16-yard gain and two plays later hit McCullough for 19 on another quick out pattern. Isom scored from the three with 0:00.8 showing on the clock. Ezekiel Alvarado missed the point after try.

The second half was all Trojans. Richards had a great return of 45 yards on the kickoff and the Trojans went 37 yards in three plays to score. Most of the distance came on a 30-yard pass to Gudger down the sidelines.

Kaleb Miller got the points from the three and Lopez kicked the PAT for a 16-0 lead just 1:01 into the third frame.

After forcing a punt, the Trojans had a 16-yard scoring run from Richards wiped out by a holding penalty but scored two plays later when Isom fired to Rosen down the middle. Rosen bounced off a defender and went 27 yards to score and Lopez kicked the point with 5:48 left in the third.

It was a 45-yard, 5-play drive that saw Zaylan Frias with a 21-yard catch out of the backfield.

Boone had its best offensive showing of the night after the kickoff. The visitors had four first downs in moving from their 20 to the Trojans 32.

However, the ‘Blazers had back-to-back motion penalties and a three-yard loss. On fourth down from the 45, Jenkins threw deep and West’s Ian Carr picked off the pass to end the threat.

The Trojans then marched 86 yards in 12 plays for the final touchdown. Richards had a 29-yard run and caught a 21-yard pass and Isom tacked on a 16-yard run for the big plays. Richards got the TD from three yards out and Lopez converted to start a running clock with 8:03 remaining.

Neither team got a first down after that.