Congratulations to Troy coach Steve Nolan on his 200th career victory! With the win, Coach Nolan became just the 26th coach in state history to reach that milestone. In a football-rich state like Ohio, that's pretty significant. He's definitely had a lot of success in his 22+ years as Troy's head coach.
It's fitting that the Trojans helped Nolan reach this milestone by beating Sidney with 556 rushing yards. Nolan's Wing-T offense is famous for allowing the Trojans to dominate opponents on the ground, and dominate they did on Friday night. Fullback Dustin Messer rushed for 229 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 15 carries; halfback Corey Brown had 153 yards and 3 TDs on 16 carries; and another halfback, Ryan Boyd, had 74 yards on 8 carries. By way of contrast, quarterback Scott Zink attempted only six passes, completing just one for ten yards.
The defense didn't look quite as dominant against Sidney as they did the first two weeks of the season, but they made some adjustments and got the stops when they needed to. They were operating on a short field for most of the night due to Coach Nolan's unwillingness to put the ball deep on kickoffs. They were dealing with some injuries as well, but they still managed to make some great plays, especially when it looked like Sidney was going to try to make a game of it.
The big thing to come out of this game was seeing Troy's offense finally get on track after struggling a little bit through the first two games of the season. When the Wing-T works like this, it's an absolute joy to watch. It was also big for Troy to get a win in their first conference game of the season. They play at home again next Friday against Fairborn, and hopefully they'll be able to carry the momentum of the offensive dominance from this game into the next and on into the rest of the season.
Number 200 for the Legend...
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