Shaun Addison threw for a school record 418 yards to lead the No. 22 Taylor football team to its third straight Wagon Wheel Game victory as the Trojans rolled past Anderson 42-20 in the season opener on a beautiful night for football Thursday at Macholtz Stadium.
Taylor (1-0) extended its win streak to five games dating back to last season after piling up 568 yards of total offense, including Addison's record-setting performance that surpassed his previous best of 390 yards set in last year's dramatic 36-35 win at Marian. The senior finished the night 19-for-31 with three touchdown passes and a rushing score.
Sophomore running back Taylor Johnson looked elusive in his Taylor debut, rushing for 127 yards and two touchdowns to give the Trojans their first 100+ yard performance by a running back since 2008. Senior receivers Ryan Magnuson and Trenton Schmale combined for 14 catches for 342 yards and three touchdowns.
Taylor was just 3 of 12 on third down conversions, but scored touchdowns on all three of its trips into the red-zone.
Defensively the Trojans held Anderson to 65 yards on the ground. The Ravens were able to spread the ball around for 358 yards through the air to eight different receivers. Bryan Onuselogu and Nahum Masimer each had a game-high 11 tackles for Taylor.
Freshman punter Stephen Straits had an impressive Trojans debut with six punts for 218 yards with three of those punts landing inside the 20.
Although you wouldn't know it by the final numbers, the Taylor offense sputtered with dropped passes and missed receivers during its first three drives. But on the fourth possession early in the second quarter, Addison led the Trojans on a 93-yard drive that ended in Johnson's first touchdown from eight yards out.
Ten minutes later following a missed AU field goal, Addison found Travis Tomaszewski down the seam for a 48-yard completion to set up a 30-yard scoring strike to Ryan Magnuson in the corner of the end zone that put the Trojans up 14-0.
Anderson's Mitch Grider answered by leading the Ravens 68 yards on six plays before finding Nic Jackson for a score. Anderson missed the extra point to make it 14-6 headed to halftime.
On the first possession of the second half, the Trojans found lightening in a bottle as Addison lobbed a pass over the top to Schmale, who had gotten behind the defense, for a 61-yard touchdown and a 21-6 lead.
After an Anderson three and out, Taylor found itself in a fourth and one situation at the 50-yard line. Johnson got the call, but was dropped for a loss. The Ravens took over on downs and proceeded to go 49 yards in the next four plays to narrow the margin to 21-12.
The Trojans' passing game continued its dominance four minutes later when Magnuson blew past the Anderson defense to make the score 28-12 on a 67-yard touchdown catch straight down the sideline from Addison.
Things began to get a little dicey when Anderson got to within 28-20 after Grider led his team down the field on the next possession that ended on a 26-yard touchdown pass to Shane Peacock with 2:38 left in the third quarter.
After trading punts on the next two possessions, Johnson carried four straight times for gains of 7, 21, 3, and then a 2-yard score that gave Trojans head coach Ron Korfmacher the separation he was looking for.
A minute later after a quick Anderson three and out, Addison ran the ball up the middle for 10 yards and his first rushing touchdown of the season to blow the game wide open at 42-20.
The Trojans return to action on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. in Taylor's home opener against William Penn.