Trevians’ offensive woes carry into conference play as Maine South blanks New Trier

A third-consecutive silent night for New Trier’s offense has the Trevians feeling anything but calm and bright as they prepare for a must-win matchup with their biggest rival next week. 

New Trier was shut out for the second time in the last three weeks and held without a touchdown for the third-straight game during its 32-0 loss to the Maine South Hawks on Friday, Sept. 27, in Park Ridge. 

“There’s nothing that is really going well for us offensively,” New Trier head coach Brian Doll said. “We’ve tried some new kids this week, we’ve tried putting in some new stuff. We’re continuing not to catch the ball, not making throws at the right time, we’re missing blocks, we’re missing assignments.

“We had some chances tonight and just didn’t make the throws, didn’t make the catches, didn’t make the blocks,” Doll later added. “It doesn’t go well when you do that.” 

The Trevians could not capitalize off of a superb first-half performance from their defense, which limited the powerful, fast-paced Maine South offense to two scores across its six possessions in the half. 

Doll called the opening two quarters New Trier’s best defensive stretch of the season, noting the Trevians were excellent at both tackling and generating a consistent pass rush on Hawks’ quarterback Jameson Purcell. 

Senior captain Jayden Salazar along with junior Anthony Aguilar led the charge on New Trier’s defensive line while Luke Solomon chipped in a huge third-down sack. 

A trio of juniors — Chase Vukovich, Cam Daly and John Fitzgerald — all played key roles throughout. And the Trevians senior mainstays on defense, Colton Berg and Dylan Benjamin, helped force the Hawks off the field early. Benjamin intercepted a pass in the second quarter to give New Trier one of its best starting field positions of the night. 

New Trier’s defense buckled down early on after Maine South’s first drive of the game. The Hawks opened with their strongest drive of the night — a 16-play, 80-yard series that took up over seven minutes of game time. 

But New Trier allowed Maine South to pick up just three first downs across its next four drives. The Hawks eventually broke free late in the second quarter when they started a drive at New Trier’s 38-yard line with less than a minute to play in the first half. Maine South running back Michael Dellumo rushed home a 1-yard score to send New Trier into the half trailing 14-0. 

New Trier’s offense could not put together much at all against the Hawks. The Trevs totaled only 57 yards of offense (36 rushing, 21 passing) through two quarters while recording just four first downs. 

The second half didn’t get much better for New Trier, as the Trevs compiled 81 yards of offense over the third and fourth quarters. New Trier’s biggest play from scrimmage on the night was 15 yards. 

“We’re really trying to simplify our offense and make it easier for them but we just haven’t found that magic sauce yet and it’s hard,” Doll said. “It’s really hard on me. I’m calling the offense right now and I take responsibility in that but I also know that guys have to step up and make plays in certain situations and they’re not right now.” 

What’s particularly troublesome for New Trier is that the Trevians have now gone 13 straight quarters of football without finding the end zone. Since the fourth quarter of their Week 2 victory against Yorkville, New Trier has managed to score only three points. 

“One hundred percent no,” Doll said when asked if he ever envisioned a scenario in which the Trevs could go three-plus games without a touchdown. “Not with a third-year starting quarterback. So that’s been frustrating for us. I knew we were going to be young on the offensive line having four juniors and only one returning senior with experience but, in general, right now, the woes are continuing and we have to find a way to break out of it.” 

Maine South hit it big in the second with two huge plays that buried the Trevs. Dellumo broke free for a 79-yard touchdown run on the last play of the third quarter. The huge run happened on a second-and-26 play. 

The Hawks scored on the first play of their next possession when Purcell fired a 62-yard touchdown pass. Maine South added a field goal in the fourth quarter for its final score. 

“I thought we really could have played this team a lot tighter, but offensively, if you’re not scoring any points, you’re going to lose a lot of games,” Doll said. 

New Trier will return home next Friday night for a critical matchup with rival Evanston. The Trevs will more than likely need to win all four of their remaining games to have a chance at making the postseason this year. 

“We need our senior leaders to step up and we need our offensive line to kind of find an identity,” Doll said. “I think one of the things I’ve noticed is that our defense has gotten better each week and our offense hasn’t these last three weeks, so we’re going to have to sit down and really evaluate what we can do. 

“To win football games, we have to score. That’s what it comes down to,” he later added.

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