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By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
After his team’s spotty offensive performance in a 34-14 win over Lloyd on Friday, Conner football coach Dave Trosper told his players there’s room for improvement despite their 5-1 record and four-game winning streak.
“We’ve got to worry about getting things fixed with us and cleaning those things up,” Trosper said. “When we do, we’ll be where we want.”
Lloyd took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter of Friday’s game by capitalizing on mistakes by the Cougars. A pass interception and a turnover on downs after a bad snap on a punt attempt put Lloyd in good field position for two short scoring drives.
Conner came back to take a 20-14 halftime lead and recovered a punt on the second-half kickoff to set up a touchdown that put the Cougars ahead, 27-14. But the offense struggled after that and didn’t get another touchdown until the final minutes of the game.
“We’ve got to learn to finish (drives),” Trosper said. “We talked about that last week (in practice) and I’ll talk about it again this week. That’s something we’ve got to fix, and it’s on me. We’ll take care of it and work on it and get better at it.”
Conner finished with a 353 offensive yards compared to Lloyd’s 162. The Juggernauts had major problems moving the ball after junior quarterback Jordan Fann was injured on the final play of the first quarter and left the game strapped to a plastic backboard.
Lloyd coach Eric Turner said Fann was knocked unconscious when he hit the ground after being sacked. He was revived on the field by emergency personnel and waved his hand in the air while being carried off the field. After the game, Turner told reporters that Fann was taken to hospital for a CAT scan.
“They checked him out and don’t think it was a concussion,” the coach said. “But we’ll see what the next 48 hours looks like and check back Monday to see what they say.”
Alex Runion, who recently returned from an injury, replaced Fann at quarterback and had passes intercepted on back-to-back possessions. Conner scored after both of those turnovers to take the lead.
“Bottom line is, they’ve got a great defense,” coach Turner said. “They pinned their ears back and came after us and we were having struggles blocking their guys up front.”
Conner senior quarterback Walker Buelow competed 11 of 17 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored on a 1-yard run. But it was senior running back Armand Jackson who scored the Cougars’ first two touchdowns to spark their comeback. He ended up rushing for 167 yards on 19 carries.
“He’s had a few of those games where he’s had over 100 yards,” coach Trosper said of Jackson. “He’s done great, but we’ve got to do things to get him free more and we’ll continue to work on that.”
Jackson picked up 72 yards on a breakaway run in the second quarter and had more than 100 rushing yards when the first half ended. He was contained by the Lloyd defense in the second half, but Buelow stepped up for the Cougars.
“You’ve got to expect anything in a game, especially against a great team like Lloyd,” Jackson said. “They played very hard. We just came through and got it done.”
LLOYD 14 0 0 0 — 14
CONNER 7 13 7 7 — 34
L – Durham 27 run (Oshan kick)
L – Townsend 15 pass from Fann (Oshan kick)
C – Jackson 6 run (Shepherd kick)
C – Jackson 7 run (kick blocked)
C – Buelow 1 run (Shepherd kick)
C – Buckler 12 pass from Buelow (Shepherd kick)
C – Marshall 40 pass from Buelow (Shepherd kick)
RECORDS: Conner 5-1, Lloyd 3-3