Riding a three-game losing streak the Charleston Trojans have their backs up against the wall heading into this week’s matchup versus the Mount Zion Braves.
After starting the season 3-0, the Trojans have been winless since they started conference play.
“Our players are jazzed up. It’s time for our comeback week,” assistant coach Kameron Chappell said.
Both teams are sitting at 3-3 and must win two of their remaining three games to qualify for the playoffs. This leads to a very important conference matchup that already has built up tension.
The last time Mt. Zion was seen at Trojan Hill, tempers flared. This resulted in a player on both teams being ejected and suspended who have now graduated.
However, Chappell said that it’s not their biggest motivation for the upcoming game.
“We’re definitely excited for this week but I don’t know if it’s Mt. Zion in particular,” Chappel said.
One player who was on varsity at this time was Mt. Zion’s JC Anderson. A big name in the 2026 recruiting class now, at 6-foot-7-inches, 235-pounds, four-star tight end Anderson will be a problem for the Trojan’s defense.
Anderson is a top target in the Braves’ pass-heavy offense. Alongside him are the team’s leaders in receiving yards (524) and receiving touchdowns (six), junior Jacob Harvey and senior Brayden Trimble.
Throwing the ball is dual-threat junior quarterback Keller Stock who is second in the Apollo conference in passing yards (1111) and eighth in rushing yards (303).
This offensive playstyle is completely different to what the Trojan’s have seen the last two games. In those two games they saw 63 running back carries, which is more than Mt. Zion has had all season.
“I think this is our secondary’s time to shine,” Chappell said. “We’ve had a lot of up the middle this entire year. And our secondary has kind of stayed back but I’m very confident in our secondary and I think this week is going to be their time to shine.”
Handing the ball off to the running back is something Charleston does heavily as well, specifically 65% of the time.
Fortunately for them, a ground heavy offensive scheme has already exploited the Braves’ offense. Fully exposed by Mattoon when they ran for 359 yards against them.
Although they tend to struggle to stop the run, Mt. Zion knows how to knock the ball out. They have six total fumble recoveries this season. And in their previous game, the Trojans struggled to hold onto the ball with three fumbles lost.
“We just got to keep talking about it as a team and it’s just something we hash our guy’s about and to make sure we are staying vocal and visual about,” Chappell said. “Because it is one of those things you can’t mess up on Friday night.”
The two keys of this game will be slowing down the Brave’s passing game and not turning the ball over. Overall, the team needs to be cohesive to reach these goals.
“Cohesion is going to be what’s the game breaker between if we get it or Mt. Zion takes it,” Chappell said.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Trojan Hill.
Bryce Parker can be reached at at 581-2812 or at baparker2@eiu.edu.