New Trier dismantle York in season opener

By: Luke Drase

Friday night lights is officially underway.

There was a buzz in the air as fans flocked to Robert Naughton Field on a perfect summer evening to watch the New Trier Trevians defeat the York Dukes, 31-0 in the first football game of the season.

“It was just exciting waking up today,” said New Trier head coach Brian Doll.

“I got to wake up today, have breakfast, come out here do a walk through and just have the perfect weather, the perfect setup, great crowd tonight and really the perfect outcome for us tonight.”

New Trier kicked off the nights proceedings and promptly intercepted the pass of York Quarterback David Leonard to give them excellent field position.

Then, on their first play from scrimmage, junior running back Brian Sitzer burst through the line and scampered 45 yards towards the endzone to score on his first ever play of varsity action.

“It was awesome, for a long time I’ve been thinking about this, especially with the student section. Just the atmosphere running out with the smoke it was just awesome,” said Sitzer.

“It was just pure excitement, thats all I can say. It was my first snap, I was not expecting that to happen and once I got it outside I just had an eye for the endzone.”

Sitzer, who scored two touchdowns on the night made sure to credit his offensive linemen, who created massive gaps in the defense for the Trevian offense all night long, but that didn’t stop Coach Doll from singing the praises of his young running back.

Doll said: “He was electric tonight. He was unbelievable for us as a sophomore, and we saw it all summer but to actually see him make the breaks, the cuts tonight, he’s just a special player and we’re looking for big things from him the whole season.”

New Trier managed to add a 37 yard field goal courtesy of Sam Rutheford, as well as two, second half touchdowns from Peter Murray.

However, the offensive output was overshadowed by the Trevians dominant defensive display, which never allowed the York offense to get going.

“The depth for us this year is really what makes us strong. This is my fourth year now and this is the first shutout we’ve had and I’m really proud about that,” said New Trier head coach Brian Doll.

“What I don’t think people really realize is that the juniors that are coming up this year, Sitzer, Kosanovich, Donovan Perkins, we’ve just got speed everywhere. We didn’t have that as early last year with the juniors stepping in week one.”

The Trevians were unstoppable Friday night, and look as though they can compete with anyone on any given night, even defending state champion and conference rival, Maine South.

With a great balance of senior leadership, youth, and incredible speed on the defensive end, this could be the year that New Trier makes a run at state.

New Trier will travel to Gurnee next week to face the Warren Blue Devils