Big First Quarter Leads Troy To 63-27 Win Over South Williamsport
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs
Ed Weaver | November 3, 2024
The Troy Trojans scored five first quarter touchdowns en route to a 63-27 rout of South Williamsport to open the District IV Class 2A playoffs on Friday, November 1.
“We got the defense rolling quick and got some different guys the ball and got to throw it around a little bit,” coach Jim Smith said. “Obviously we have a big one next week. Tonight is a confidence booster heading into that game.”
The Trojans wasted little time as Brendan Gilliland ripped off a 52-yard run not even 90 seconds into the the game to take a quick 7-0 lead. 14 seconds later, Lincoln Chimics picked off South Williamsport QB Tadd Lusk and took it the distance to push Troy’s lead to 14-0 with 10:27 showing on the clock.
Chimics picked off Lusk a second time in the span of two minutes and some change to make it 21-0.
Following another South Williamsport punt, the Trojans’ offense went back to work with a quick, two-play drive that culminated in a 17-yard TD run by Kael Millard with five minutes to go.
Two and a half minutes after Millard’s score Evan Woodward connected with Chimics on a 28-yard pass to extend the lead to 35-0. As the quarter came to a close, Troy’s Jack Burbage crossed into the end zone on a 6-yard run, giving Troy a 42-0 lead over the Mounties.
As Troy began subbing in the second and third-stringers the scoring began to slow down. With 5:11 remaining in the half the Mounties found the end zone as Lusk called his own number on a QB sneak, cutting Troy’s lead to 42-7 after connecting with Dylan Scheller on two big pass plays.
Troy added one final score before the first half expired on a 30-yard Jayden Kutt run.
With Troy’s JV team in for the duration of the 2nd half, South Williamsport’s offense put up three scores. With 1:50 remaining in the third, Cade Lusk plowed his way into the end zone from 3 yards out after Tadd Lusk hit Scheller on an out-and-up down to the 3. Later in the 4th, with 9:42 to play, Lusk scored again on a 10-yard carry.
The game’s final three scores all came on long runs. Troy’s Spencer Martin scored twice, once on a 78-yard run and the second on the option with under a minute remaining. Eli White scored South’s final touchdown of the season on a 43-yard run.
Next up for Troy (11-0) is a rematch of last year’s Class 2A championship with Southern Columbia (7-4). This year’s game will be played at Mansfield University.
“Next week might be the de facto state championship game,” Smith said. “It’s an interesting situation in District IV and the semi-finals, but we’re really excited for it. Southern is a great program, maybe the best in many, many states. So we’re excited to hopefully do the job up here next week.”
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