Trotwood-Madison 48 Troy 0

The last time Troy traveled to play Trotwood, in 2015, the Trojans pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the state for the year. They finished just 2-8 that year under first-year head coach Matt Burgbacher, but one of those wins was that 21-20 victory over a Trotwood squad that went 10-4 and finished their season in the state semifinals. Alas, I wasn't there to see it; the last time I visited Trotwood with the Trojans was in 2013, which turned out to be the worst loss in Troy's storied football history, and the night I began to realize that then-coach Scot Brewer was not likely to be in that position for the long term.

Last year, Troy faced off against Trotwood in the first game of the season, and again managed to pull an upset, pulling out a 10-6 win. I at least got to see half of this one; the game was delayed at halftime due to lightning, and when they resumed and finished on Saturday morning, I was back in Columbus. That win, though, kicked off a magical season for Troy that saw them go 10-2 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

I was hoping for a similar outcome for this one, but it just wasn't to be. Trotwood was far, far too much for the Trojans tonight. The offense, replacing a number of key starters from last year, looked terrible, not to put too fine a point on it. There were some good plays here and there, but they couldn't put enough of them together to get anything going. Credit Trotwood's defense for that, as well as Troy's inexperience. I didn't think the defense played too badly, all things considered, but they were on the field so much, and the Rams were really good. So that was the ballgame.

One irritating thing of note: the scoreboard lights kept going out, and would stay out for long periods of time. Not being able to see the score was something of a relief, actually, but it was rare to know how much time was left in the quarter. This especially came into play as the game wore on and got into running-clock territory, when the game just flew by.

Anyway. The Trojans now face a short week, which will be good as they look to put this one behind them. They'll open their home season on Thursday against Xenia (0-1) in a game that will be televised locally and streamed online (abc22now.com). With Ohio State playing their season opener that night, not to mention a preseason Bengals game, having a televised Thursday game seems like a questionable decision to me, but hey. As I'm otherwise engaged on Friday evening, it works out for me. I'll be at Troy Memorial Stadium to see how the Trojans rebound.