As his Trojans wrapped up preseason practices under the lights last month, veteran Auburn coach Gordon Elliott reminded his players that the late workouts were with the fourth quarter in mind.

Mission accomplished.

Well, at least that was the case Friday night as the Trojans 22 scored unanswered points during the final period to earn their first Taylor Trophy since 2013 with a 25-18 win against Kent-Meridian at French Field.

Elliott believed that result was a byproduct his youthful team finally finding a way to avoid mistakes. The Trojans (1-0) scored first when senior Gavin Strojan capped the game’s opening drive with a 24-yard field goal. But they fumbled a punt return on their ensuing possession, which was recovered by the Royals at Auburn’s 37-yard line. K-M (0-1) capitalized on that mistake six plays later when senior quarterback Ben Woods found junior running back/wide receiver Joe McConico for a 37-yard touchdown. The Trojans’ ensuing possession also was ruined at the K-M 8 when sophomore defensive back Isaac Cordova recovered a fumble.

“The first game is a whirl for most kids,” Elliott said. “By the fourth quarter, we settled down a bit and started doing things better. The first half, we just hurt ourselves. We stopped doing that and guys got a little more comfortable playing varsity football. By the fourth quarter, we were playing varsity level instead of junior-varsity level.”

K-M coach Brett Allen thought his team, which had 44 players listed on its roster compared with 75 for Auburn, wore down late in the game after it surrendered 333 rushing yards on 50 carries.

“We just kind of ran out of gas, it seemed like, down the stretch,” said Allen, whose team lost starting running back Curtis Hoyle to a right ankle injury during the opening quarter. “We kind of worried about depth this year because we’re pretty young and pretty thin.”

Behind Woods, who completed 12 of 25 passes for 206 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, the Royals took an 18-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. Woods threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Cordova in the second quarter and a 33-yard strike to McConico in the end zone late during the third period.

“(Woods) wasn’t going to come back this year,” Allen said. “One of the reasons he came back was to avenge himself from last year. He wasn’t the best decision-maker and kind of played outside of himself. I thought (in this game) he was back to his original self. He really distributed the ball well with his reads.”

But the momentum shifted when junior Cole Washburn – on his first high school carry – broke a 42-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the final period.