Northmont 35 Troy 14

It's hard to believe that the season is now over for the Troy Trojans. It doesn't seem like it's been ten weeks since the beginning. Unfortunately, it ended the same way it began: getting blown out by a team we didn't match up with very well. Still, I have to give the Trojans a lot of credit. They fought to the very end. If not for some critical mistakes, this could have been a much different game.

I came into this season not knowing what to expect from the Trojans, who lost a lot of key players from a team that made the playoffs last year. After the season-opening defeat at the hands of Dublin Coffman, I thought it was possible that we were in for a long year. They showed a lot of improvement after that game, though, as players figured out their respective roles. Finishing the season at 7-3 says a lot for the character of this team. They were a lot of fun to watch, and I really wish they could have made the playoffs so the season could go on and on. That's quite a contrast with some seasons in the not-too-distant past when either a) the team wasn't that great, and the season coming to an end was a mercy, or b) the team was good, but I managed to get myself so emotionally invested that I was worn out by season's end. The only good thing I can say about this season coming to an end is that I'll be saving the cash I've been spending on gas to drive each Friday from Toledo down to Troy/Dayton and then back to Bowling Green.

On the bright side, next season should be another good one for the Trojans. While several key players are graduating (QB A.J. Bush, FB Daniel McCormick, and S Evan Swank among them), there's also quite a bit of talent coming back. With a cooperative schedule, 2006 could see a return to the playoffs for the Troy Trojans. Of course, it would also be nice if the annual shuffling of regions would see us moved back out of the ultra-competitive Cincinnati region, where a high percentage of the state's top teams reside.

I'm sure it will come as a relief to many of my readers that this blog will now move away from the arena of reporting on games on a weekly basis, at least until next August. Still, I'm not entirely ready to give up on high school football until then. This Friday, Brandi are going to her hometown of Clyde to see her alma mater's team play in the first round of the playoffs against Tipp City, a team from my neck of the woods. It's not quite as good as traveling to watch the Trojans, but it's the next best thing. The atmosphere for playoff games is awesome, especially for smaller towns and schools (Troy is in the big-school division), so I'm looking forward to it.