Jeremy Conrad had a 66-yard touchdown run and Jake McMurtry added an 18-yard run as the Trojans racked up 239 yards on the ground and held off the Rogers Eagles 30-23 in a key District 25-2A contest at Merk Field on Friday night.
“It was another one that wasn’t real pretty,” Troy coach Grady Rowe said. “We were able to run the ball and everyone really stepped up.”
With both teams coming into the contest with identical 3-1 overall records and 1-0 district marks, both teams were expecting a close battle.
Rogers struck first after a short punt by McMurtry gave the Eagles excellent field position.
The Eagles moved from the Troy 32 to the 14 before stalling and Ben Baecker’s field goal gave them a 3-0 lead with 6:20 left in the opening quarter.
But Troy got the lead for good on its next possession, when on second down Conrad broke to the outside on a dive play, then found open running room along the right side for a 66-yard touchdown run with 6:01 left in the quarter.
After Conrad added a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown less than three minutes later, it looked like the Trojans were going to roll.
“That was real big because our offense doesn’t get fired up when we first go out,” Conrad said of the rushing touchdown. “We have to go out make something happen, and I did, so that opened up the offense. On the punt, I guess they weren’t thinking I was going to get (the ball) it because they slowed up.”
But the Eagles were far from out of it. Running back Donovan Chappell scored on a cutback play from 14 yards out and quarterback Jonathan Bane found Aaron Martin on an 11-yard touchdown pass on the right side to cut the lead down to 21-17 before a Troy field goal made it 24-17 at halftime.
“We had some momentum and thought we could do some things,” Rogers’ coach John Stillwell said. “We tried to throw a little bit and run a little bit to keep them off balanced. We were doing it effectively.”
In fact, the Eagles were moving the ball more effectively than the Trojans for most of the game, but the difference turned out to be five turnovers, including two on bad snaps, which gave the Trojans great field position a good portion of the night.
“I think turnovers played a heck of a role in it,” Stillwell said. “They played mistake-free ball and we didn’t. I really think that was the difference in the game. But that’s part of the game.”
It didn’t really hurt the Eagles until the fourth quarter as Troy was just trying to hold on to a 24-23 lead.
On first-and-10 from the Troy 42, a snap sailed well over Bane’s head, and Troy’s Andrew Hines made the recovery, giving the Trojans the ball on the Eagles’ 36. Five plays later, McMurtry ran it in on a keeper from 19 yards out.
“McMurtry didn’t have one of his better nights (passing),” Rowe said of McMurtry’s 3 of 14 completions for only 37 yards. “He might not have been throwing the ball real well but did a great job running our offense and was able to get in on that keeper.”
Hines recovered another fumble on a quarterback keeper on Rogers’ next offensive play, and from there it was just a matter of running down the clock.
“This is supposed to be a big rivalry,” Stillwell said. “But everyone we play is a big rivalry. The kids are disappointed, but they’ll bounce back.”
The Eagles travel to Salado next week while Troy hosts Lago Vista.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
