Prairie Ridge's Taighdin Trost exits with injury during 1st half against East St. Louis

DeKALB – Prairie Ridge’s Taidhgin Trost found himself in an unfamiliar position: On the sideline next to the heater.

With tape wrapped around his left knee, the Wolves junior playmaker did whatever he could to stay warm. Trost, a touchdown machine for Prairie Ridge this season, sat out nearly three full quarters of football after hyperextending his knee in the IHSA Class 6A state championship game Saturday.

Meanwhile, East St. Louis ran away with a 43-21 victory at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.

“I waited all year to play and to not be able to finish it … there’s nothing you can do,” Trost said. “It’s football.”

Trost hurt his knee on the first play of the second quarter, when it was a 7-7 game. It was no doubt a disappointing way to end the season for a player who stepped up time and time again this season.

“I’ve got a sprain,” Trost said after the game. “I just couldn’t run on it at all. So I couldn’t really do anything if I was in anyways. I was going for a juke and he just tackled me with his shoulder pad and hit my knee.”

One player wasn't likely to make up for the speed of East St. Louis, a team ranked No. 1 in the state by Friday Night Drive, regardless of class. Still, this was Prairie Ridge's leading scorer with 23 touchdowns coming into play Saturday.

In his first 13 games, Trost had scored 10 times rushing and 13 times receiving. He caught 16 total passes, and scored 13 touchdowns off them – a touchdown percentage that boggles the mind.

Trost exemplified that in the first quarter: one catch, one touchdown. He scored on a 19-yard pass from quarterback Connor Lydon with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter. The score pulled Prairie Ridge even with the Flyers, 7-7.

Shortly thereafter, he couldn’t walk without a slight limp.

“That kind of hurt, that we didn’t have that vertical route to go to quite as much,” Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp said. “He’s our playmaker and I don’t have a roster full of playmakers, so it’s tough. We had to grind it out and try to earn everything that we could get.”

Prairie Ridge went into halftime tied, 14-14. It all fell apart in the second half.

East St. Louis boasted one of the biggest defensive fronts Prairie Ridge saw all season. Lydon felt it was the speed of the Flyers that made a difference, not so much their size up front.

“We tried to go outside a few plays and back-side guys are chasing us down,” Lydon said. “Their speed is what really, I think, gave them the advantage.”

Lydon completed 6-of-12 passes for 132 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Blake Brown caught a late touchdown in the final minute. It’s hard to quantify how much losing its top target hurt the passing attack, but it sure didn't help matters.

“He’s a huge part of our game plan every week,” Lydon said. “Injuries, you can’t control injuries. It’s really tough to be on the sideline during the biggest game of your life.”