It did - only it wasn’t exactly what Maxfield had in mind.
The Troy Trojans intercepted Cougar quarterback Cap Suddeth four times in the first half to help roll to a 37–9 playoff– clinching win Friday night at Trojan Field.
“We talked about sending our seniors off on a good note in their final home game,” Troy coach Grady Rowe said. “We wanted to get on them early and establish a running game. We were able to do that.”
Troy’s top rusher, Jeremy Conrad, was in uniform and itching to go, but the Trojans didn’t need him. Conrad was injured two weeks ago against Florence.
Derrick Vasta had touchdown runs of 6 and 54 yards, and finished the game with 80 yards on the ground, leading a group of six Trojans who all finished the night with double figures in rushing,
“Conrad was ready,” Rowe said. “He was tugging at my shirt every series telling me he felt fine and was ready to go. But we wanted to be sure. We had a lot of different guys carry the ball and they did a great job.”
But it was the defense that made the difference this night. The Trojans allowed a 51–yard touchdown pass on the Cougars’ opening series, but after that constantly swarmed to the ball, limiting Suddeth, the area’s top passer, to just 125 yards passing.
Trouble found Suddeth early. With the scored tied at 7 in the first quarter, the Cougars’ senior quarterback looked to hit Ben Guthrie on a screen in the flat. But Guthrie found himself in a big mix of company, and couldn’t come up with the ball. It went off his fingertips right into the hands of Troy linebacker Justin Gregory, who stumbled 51 yards for the score.
“That was a back breaker,” Maxfield said. “But those things happen.”
It put the Trojans up a score and they weren’t quite done.
After a decent kick return put the Cougars near midfield, Suddeth threw to Darrell Whitfield in double coverage. Whitfield had no chance at the ball, and Troy’s Jordan Hayes came down with it, giving the Trojans the ball on their own 46.
With Troy’s running game working so well, quarterback Jake McMurtry was able to run a beautiful play–action pass to Trey Collier for a 41–yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 21-7 lead.
“They are a lot stronger and more physical than us,” Maxfield admitted. “We just had trouble stopping them. That’s been a problem for us all year - stopping physical teams on defense.”
While the Cougars were pretty much done by then, they were still able to move the ball well at times - primarily on end– around sweep plays - gaining 134 yards on the ground.
”That’s kind of how we’ve been all year,” Maxfield added. “Our offense has gone in spurts. We’ve got some speed that can hurt some people. They really never stopped our sweep. I felt like we were getting some nickel and dimes here and there. But you can only do the same thing so many times.
“I was proud of the these guys. They played hard tonight.”
With the win and Academy’s loss, the Trojans secured the Division II top seed out of District 25–2A. Those two teams will meet at Academy next week.
The Cougars will host the Salado Eagles, who have already clinched the district title and are the district’s Division I representative.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
