FIFE — Trojans running back Tyler Cardin proved to be almost unstoppable. Cardin carried the ball just seven times but finished with an astonishing 273 yards in Fife’s 69-14 victory over the Kingston Buccaneers (0-3 overall) Friday night in Fife.
“He’s the most talented player we’ve played against all year,” said Buccaneers coach Dan Novick. “He was real tough to stop and we weren’t able to stop him.”
The Bucs surrendered more than 500 rushing yards to the Trojans.
“We still have a long ways to go on defense. We’ll continue to focus on tackling in practice,” Novick said. “It’s just a matter of continuing to get back to the basics. We need to stop the run.”
Despite the defensive woes, Novick said the offense showed glimpses of brilliance throughout the contest.
“Overall we played a lot better. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. We threw for over 200 yards and ran for 75,” he said. “We were pretty efficient on offense and moved the ball.”
The Buccaneers won the battle of time possession, holding the ball for 37 minutes.
“That number is misleading because most of Fife’s drives took less than four or five plays,” Novick said.
One of the bright spots for the Bucs was the play of wide receiver Jack Clearman. He hauled in 11 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns against the tough Fife defense.
“Jack is a really talented kid and competitive,” Novick said. “He goes and gets the ball in the air. He’s really competitive and that’s the kind of mentality you need at the receiver position.”
Novick said the Buccaneers’ first three non-league opponents are in top 10 of their respective divisions.
“We knew as a coaching staff that these first few games were going to be tough,” he said. “We feel like it will prepare us for our (Olympic) League schedule.”
The Buccaneers will travel to Sequim for their first Olympic League match of the season Friday night.
“Sequim is a team with a lot of size that likes to play smash mouth football,” Novick said. “It’s going to be their strength (running game) against our weakness (stopping the run). We have five days of practice to make our weakness a strength. We’re going to throw all of our eggs in one basket and compete with them.”
