Trojans-Senators halted due to lightning

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Chris Slone

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PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Trojans and West Senators were halted with 6:15 remaining in the first half Friday night due to lighting.

West will face a 2nd-and-13 from its own 29-yard line when play resumes Saturday night at 7 p.m. Senators head coach Ben Johnson plans on going through a normal pregame routine despite the unusual circumstances.

“Both teams are under the same situation, it’s not ideal but you’ve just got to come back tomorrow and treat it like it’s a new game,” Johnson said. “We’re just going to treat it like we’re starting over.”

First-year head coach Aaron Duncan is focused on getting his players physically ready to return to action in less than a 24-hour time span.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” Duncan said. ” … Now we’ll send the kids home and have to get some of the lactic acid out of them from tonight because they played pretty hard for the quarter and a half that they were out there. We’ll have to get them stretched out real good and get them ready to play a game tomorrow.”

Before Mother Nature intervened, West received the opening kickoff and embarked on a 12-play, 65-yard drive, capped off by a Wesley Robinson 10-yard touchdown run.

“It was a great opening drive, a great way to set the tempo,” Johnson said. “We took a lot of time off the clock. I’m just proud how our guys came out and were ready to go tonight.”

The Trojans had an opportunity to answer the Senators but failed to convert a 4th-and-1 at the West 12-yard line, which gave the Senators the ball back just before play was suspended.

“We’ve got to finish those drives,” Duncan said. “That’s the difference in where our program is and where we want it to go. Fourth-and-1, redzone, that’s got to be white-knuckle time where we are driving people off the ball and that didn’t happen.”

Johnson was proud of his defense for denying Portsmouth’s bid to tie the game in the second quarter.

“Our defense bended there but didn’t break,” Johnson said. “That was a great stop on fourth down. Hopefully we can pick up right where we left off.”

Reach Chris Slone at 740-353-3101, ext 1930, or on Twitter @crslone.

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