Troy 30 Fairborn 7

The most commonly heard phrase of the night: "We got lost." The directions published on the Fairborn schools' website, and apparently the directions provided to the Troy athletic department, led to the high school. Unfortunately, the stadium is not anywhere near the high school, so those directions were worthless. Fortunately, I have a tendency to arrive early for these sorts of things, and I arrived at Fairborn high school just as a caravan of folks from Troy, also misdirected, were heading out, following a gracious soul from Fairborn who showed us the way.

Actually, Fairborn's stadium ranked pretty high on my list of pet peeves:

Not located adjacent to, or visible from, the high school

Had to pay for parking (only $1, but still, it's free almost everywhere else)

No permanent restrooms on the visitors' side

Wooden bleachers

Even though they were wooden, however, at least the visitors' bleachers provided a decent vantage point to watch a game. I've been to plenty of stadiums where you could barely see over the players on the sidelines. It was also a nearly perfect night in terms of football weather--I wore a sweatshirt and was comfortable the whole time. So, once I got there and into the stands, I really didn't have any complaints.



I had no complaints once the game started as well. The Trojans were on a mission from the opening kickoff, and it showed. They looked a lot better than they did last week against Sidney. Injuries forced the coaching staff to make some personnel and scheme changes, and they paid off in a big way. Instead of having some guys play both ways, Tyler Wright was moved exclusively to safety (from quarterback) and Corey Brown was focused on halfback (instead of also playing safety). Also, instead of their traditional Wing-T offense, the Trojans ran some single-back and I-formation sets, and it worked well.

Playing just offense, Corey Brown was an absolute stud. He had 30 carries for 189 yards and 2 TDs. He also had two long touchdown runs called back due to penalties. The defense also looked good, holding Fairborn to just over 100 yards of total offense and taking the ball away from them three times. The one touchdown the Trojans allowed was basically a gift--they contributed over 30 yards' worth of penalties on the drive, including a roughing the punter call after the Skyhawks had kicked the ball away.

The changes they made should help the Trojans for the rest of the season, especially as some more players hopefully return to the lineup from injury. They return home next week to begin a three-game homestand, as they take on Springfield North (2-2) at Troy Memorial Stadium.

Check out my game photos.