The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Gilbert carries  Trotwood-Madison past Turpin

Junior RB leads Rams by rumbling for 263 yards rushing and 3 TDs.

Club volleyball raises level of sport in Ohio
9:40 a.m.
Dunbar boys post perfect regular season
8:08 a.m.
CJ boys fall one short of Moeller
2/15/12
Anna girls top final AP poll
2/14/12
Meininger shoots Elks past Alter in overtime
2/14/12
> More high school headlines

By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 2:00 AM Saturday, November 14, 2009

SHARONVILLE — Antwan Gilbert can be a hard man to keep off the field.

“We have to make him not go out there as the scout team running back in practice,” said Trotwood-Madison football coach Maurice Douglass of his junior running back. “He wants to go out there every play.”

It can be difficult to track him down on the field, too. Gilbert, in continuing a nearly unprecedented rushing streak, gained 263 yards on 16 carries and scored three times to help Trotwood beat previously undefeated and No. 2 state-ranked Cincinnati Turpin 43-7 on Friday, Nov. 13, in a Division II, Region 8 semifinal at Princeton High School.

The Rams will meet Winton Woods in the regional final next Friday. That game site will be announced on Sunday.

Trotwood is making its deepest playoff run since 1981, Douglass’ senior season when the Rams lost the D-II state championship to Cleveland Benedictine. Since, the Rams have lost in the first round in 2002 and ’06 and dropped a second-round game to Turpin 21-13 two seasons ago.

The Rams (9-3) have accomplished the run by winning seven straight after a 2-3 start. In those games, they have won by a combined score of 241-76, including a first-round 41-6 defeat of Mount Healthy last weekend, and Gilbert has averaged 234.4 yards rushing per game.

“We struggled in the beginning (of the season), but then we came together as a team,” said Gilbert, who pushed his season total to 2,538 yards and scored from 2, 90 and 7 yards.

Trotwood’s special teams delivered for the first score, when Michael Jordan picked up a ball teammate Raphael Allen fumbled on a punt return and took it 39 yards for a touchdown with 10:50 left in the first half.

Gilbert first touched the ball on the kickoff after Turpin tied the game at 7-all, and he took the return 74 yards to the Turpin 17. For the remainder of the half, Gilbert ran nine times for 196 yards and two touchdowns as the Rams took a 28-7 halftime lead.

He continued in the second half, running for another 67 yards on seven carries and a 7-yard touchdown with 5:46 left in the third quarter that gave the Rams a 34-7 lead.

“This is not the same team it was two years ago,” Douglass said. “This team is very focused.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article