Troy 24 Springfield South 14

The Trojans managed to come out on top. That's a good thing. I want to get that out there right off the top, because pretty much everything else about this game sucked. The concession stand food sucked; the officials sucked; the P.A. announcer sucked; the chain gang sucked; the crowd around us sucked; even the game sucked until sometime in the third quarter.

In the first half, the Trojans looked nothing like the team that hung with and eventually beat a very tough team last week. They went three-and-out on the first series after the opening kickoff, then South's quarterback and tailback proceeded to shred the defense on their offensive series. The Trojans managed to stuff them on fourth and goal to regain possession, but then went three-and-out again. They couldn't keep South out of the endzone on the second try.

Aside from a 61-yard TD pass on a screen play, the Trojan defense tightened up quite a bit on South after those first two drives. The halftime score was 14-7 in favor of South. Coming out of halftime, it looked like that might end up being the final score. Troy's defense didn't look like it was going to give up anything else, but the offense didn't look ready to play at all. They finally got on track as the third quarter progressed, and they tied the game at 14 when QB Scott Zink ran a bootleg and took the ball into the endzone himself from six yards out very early in the fourth quarter.

From there, the Trojans were led to victory by their kicker, of all people. After the score, Trevor Stutz executed a perfect onside kick that Troy recovered. They took the ball and drove down for another touchdown, which was followed by another onside kick. Troy recovered that one as well, leading to a field goal by Stutz to put the score at 24-14. South finally recovered the third onside kick attempt, but by then the Trojans had eaten up most of the fourth quarter clock, limiting the time South had to attempt their comeback. By that time the Trojan D was in its groove, and South's players were frustrated, so the game was pretty much in the bag.

Despite the win, not all news was good for Troy. Halfback Corey Brown and linebacker Erik Lamka both left the game with injuries. Hopefully both will be back in the lineup next Friday when the Trojans return home to play the Sidney Yellowjackets.

Links:

My photos from the game
Good Enough...That's All That Matters