Gordon Lee’s Groce earns TFP Player of the Week honors
There was a moment in Gordon Lee’s 38-28 win over Heritage this past Friday when it looked like the Generals were poised to complete the comeback from what had been a 10-point deficit in the second half.
Peyton Groce and the Trojans’ run game, however, were not going to let it happen.
The junior running back, head coach Josh Groce’s son, led a long drive that ate up nearly seven minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter after Heritage had scored on a 73-yard pass play to cut the lead to 31-28.
After Layne Vaughn gained 20 yards on a pair of carries to the Heritage 27, Peyton Groce powered his way to the 18, ripped off another strong run to the 4 and two plays later powered in from the 1 for the clinching touchdown.
It capped a 143-yard, threetouchdown effort for Groce, who also led the defense with 10 tackles, earning him this week’s Times Free Press Player of the Week honors.
“It was old school, smashmouth football,” Josh Groce said. “The offensive coaches did an outstanding job of scheming and getting the run game going and the kids did a great job of executing the game plan.
“Peyton has a lot of talent. A lot of times I don’t give him credit because he is my son. He does some very good things and he’s fun to watch. That’s one thing, when I became his head coach, I tried not to coach him. It takes some pressure off him that I’m on the defensive side more than the offensive side.
“But, yeah, he was fun to watch.”
So, too, was an offensive line that had a major shakeup the morning of the game. Starting tackle Caden Oliver fell ill Thursday night and was ruled out Friday morning, pushing sophomore Will Slaton into his first start.
The unit, which also includes Eli Hasty, Griffin Moore, Jonah Davenport and Joe Gilliam, paved the way for 220 rushing yards and earned the praise of head coach and leading rusher.
“We were moving bodies,” Peyton Groce said. “Our two guards, Griffin and Jonah, were pulling and moving people all night. Like my dad said, it was definitely smash-mouth football.”
Added Coach Groce, “It’s pretty easy to be physical as a running back when you are not getting touched for five yards. That’s my style of football.”
The physical play wasn’t by accident either. After suffering a lopsided loss to rival Trion in the opener, and then surviving to defeat LaFayette, the Trojans used their off week to ramp up the physical effort.
“We’ve really come together the past couple of weeks,” said Peyton Groce. “In our off week, we were getting preached to about being physical, so that’s what we did and it showed Friday.
“If we come out and play physical like that and do our jobs, we can win just about any game.”