Trotwood-Madison 20 Troy 19

This one is tough to take.

You can point to the final score, the team records going into and coming out of the game, and all the players Trotwood will be sending on to play Division I-A football. None of it matters. On this night, the Trojans were the better team, and they deserved to win this game.

Troy led the entire game, until the Rams scored and converted a two-point try with 49 seconds left. Prior to that point, the Trojan defense had made big stops when it needed to all night long. Even the final drive needed assistance from two penalties (one of which, a late hit, looked pretty questionable from where I was sitting) on Troy's defense in order to happen. Of course, the flag-throwing officials missed some pretty blatant holding by Trotwood's offensive line on that same drive, but that's neither here nor there, I guess.

Like the Vandalia game, which Troy also lost by one point, the difference in this game was caused by missed extra points. The Trojans missed two attempts on the night, and that turned out to be huge when the final gun sounded. It was also Trotwood's inability to convert an extra point early in the game that inspired them to go for two--the win instead of the tie--after their final TD.

As a sidenote, this was my first visit to the new Bob Driver Stadium in Trotwood, which is in its second year, I believe. The home side looked pretty sweet, but they should have saved their money on the visitors' side. It was very small--only ten rows high, and barely elevated enough to see the game over the heads of the players on the sideline. They could have designed a better parking lot traffic flow, as well--it took me well over half an hour just to get out of the lot after the game, and that was even with much of the crowd leaving prior to the end of the game.

The Trojans will now try to regroup for the biggest game of the year. The hated Piqua Indians invade Troy Memorial Stadium this Friday, and that's always a big one. This year the Indians (7-1) look to have the advantage, but anything can happen in a game like this.

GO TROJANS!!!