Trailing 21-0 in the first half of its game against state-ranked Salado, Troy came alive. The Trojans lost that game 35-21 but had rallied to make it a seven-point game before the Eagles notched the final score late in the fourth quarter.
Troy followed that with a 37-9 win over Rosebud-Lott and a 60-0 romp over an Academy team that still had a shot at the playoffs. It was the Trojans’ first shutout of the year.
In the first two of those games, the Trojans were without the services of senior running back Jeremy Conrad, who leads the team with 486 rushing yards. In the finale, Conrad saw limited action while fellow senior Derrick Vasta gained 111 yards and senior quarterback Jacob McMurtry, who has passed for 1,301 yards, threw one time.
“Our kids are confident right now,” Troy fourth-year coach Grady Rowe said. “But not to the point where they are overconfident.”
The Trojans (8-2) can’t afford to be when they will face the tough Lexington Eagles at 7:30 tonight in a Class 2A Division II bi-district playoff game at Hippo Stadium.
“We’re playing a good football team,” Rowe said. “Lexington has been good the last few years and is always a tough team in the playoffs.”
The Eagles (7-3) finished second in District 26-2A, losing 33-19 to Franklin last week as the Lions captured the championship. Both teams entered the game undefeated in district play and both knew they would be in Division II, but the district title and playoff seeding were on the line.
“You never like to end the season on a loss,” Lexington coach Jason Holcomb said. “But I think our kids have bounced back this week.”
Rowe agreed that Lexington will be ready.
“I don’t think that loss will affect them any,” he said. “They have enough experience to put that behind them. No team going into the playoffs will be thinking about the past.”
And that’s why the Trojans won’t be overconfident. Rowe knows that his players understand that the big wins over Rosebud-Lott and Academy mean nothing now - especially if they falter against Lexington.
To prevail, the Trojans will have to contain running back Kaleb Kearney, who has 1,130 yards on 169 carries.
“We do have to shut down their run,” Rowe said. “They have some good backs, but they also have some threats out wide and their quarterback (Jenner Jones) is probably as healthy as he can be. They have some definite threats.”
Jones, who broke his foot in the fifth game of the season, has completed 50 percent of his passes for 740 yards but has six interceptions to go with six touchdown passes. Kearney is his favorite target with 12 catches for 210 yards, followed by Clinton Hutson with 325 yards on eight catches - four against Franklin.
“It’s been a strange year for us as far as injuries go,” Holcomb said. “Our quarterback breaks his foot, and he’s still fairly immobile. Then we have two kids go out with knee injuries and our junior offensive lineman (Michael Brown), who is verbally committed to A&M, was out with a foot injury. But he’ll dress out.”
The Trojans have shown that they have their share of weapons and offer a very balanced offensive attack, with 1,707 rushing yards and 1,370 passing yards.
Eleven Trojans have carried the ball, with senior Jordan Hayes’ 443 yards the closest to Conrad. But Hayes has done his on just 65 carries to Conrad’s 95.
Hayes leads the team with 302 receiving yards on 15 catches, but Travis Lesikar is right behind him with 292 yards on 17 receptions.
“They run and pass well,” Holcomb said. “If you take away one, they can burn you with the other. We just have to try to create some turnovers and hope to get some breaks to go our way.”
Rowe’s strategy will be to go with what works best.
“We have to be able to run the ball,” he said. “We feel like that will open up the passing game.”
And with everyone healthy for Troy, along with the momentum of two big wins, the Trojans will be hungry and prepared to make a deep run in the playoffs.
The winner of tonight’s game will meet the Hallettsville-East Bernard winner next week.
