The No. 9-ranked Salado Eagles limited the Trojans to just 40 yards rushing to help pull out a 35-21 win at Eagle Field on Friday night and take sole possession of first place in the 25-2A standings.
“That was a good win for us,” Salado coach Jeff Cheatham said. “We needed that kind of ball game. Troy came out and gave us everything they had. Our kids responded and made plays when they had to.”
Salado (8-0, 5-0) set the tone for the game early, when Jerod Lutz ran for a 55-yard score on the second play of the game.
With Troy’s top rusher Jeremy Conrad on the sidelines after suffering an injury last week, Salado’s stout run defense had little problem containing the usually potent Troy running game. That, combined with Salado taking a 21-0 lead in the second quarter, meant the Trojans would have to try an air attack.
McMurtry found Jordan Hayes on the right sideline for a 40-yard touchdown pass for the Trojans’ first score with two minutes to play before the half, making it known that they weren’t about to give up easily.
“We told them to keep their heads up,” Troy coach Grady Rowe said. “And at some point or another we are going to slow them down a little bit. And with the offensive scheme we were running, we’d be able to move the ball.”
Both things happened as Troy (6-2, 4-1) kept the Eagles out of the end zone in the third quarter, and cut the lead to 21-14 when McMurtry led a 10-play, 87-yard drive highlighted by a beautiful 43-yard reception by Chris Chandler in double coverage to move into the red zone. He ended the drive with a fade pass to Travis Lesikar from about 3 yards out.
“We felt like that would be a big part of their game plan,” Cheatham said of Troy’s passing attack. “McMurtry had a good night. He threw the ball well and did a good job moving the football.”
After the two teams exchanged scores, it came down to a couple of key moments. Salado successfully recovered a Troy onside kick attempt, but after getting the ball down to the 11, fumbled it back to Troy, giving the Trojans 6:33 to try to move the ball virtually the length of the field to try to tie the game.
But McMurtry fired three incompletions, two deep passes and one for about 10 yards that was dropped, and the Trojans were forced to punt.
It took only three plays for Rosenau to find Clayton Whitmire for a 33-yard touchdown and the 35-21 lead with 4:29 remaining.
“We had to keep grinding and making plays,” Cheatham said. “Our kids did a good job responding to what Troy was trying to do. And David made some big plays for us late in the game.”
McMurtry, who completed only 16 of 47 passes, couldn’t connect on any on the next series, then a botched trick play on Troy’s final possession sealed the game.
Rowe said that even if they had Conrad, they were likely still going to go to the air.
“Any time you don’t have a top player it hurts you,” he said. “But I don’t think we missed a beat with these guys, but we could have given them a breather had we had Conrad.”
The Eagles, which clinched the Division I playoff berth, will host Florence next Friday and finish at Rosebud-Lott.
“We’re getting to the point now where we need to figure out how good a football team we are going to be by the end of the year,” Cheatham said.
Troy, which is alone in second place, will host Rosebud-Lott and finish at Academy.
“We’re not in (the playoffs) for sure,” Rowe said. “We still have to focus on Rosebud-Lott starting now."
mhood@temple-telegram.com
