Troy Holds Off Rally Attempt By Athens, Earns 31-21 Victory

Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Davin Ridall | September 5, 2026

TROY – The Trojans absolutely controlled this game in the first half, but the in the second half things got interesting. Athens scored 14 points in the third quarter to pull within 7 points, however it was ultimately not enough as the Trojans ended up hanging on to win 31-21 in a heavyweight Northern Tier League battle.

Last week was a disappointing loss for the Trojans, falling to Montoursville 26-19, so Troy knew they needed to up their urgency in this game. That fact became extremely clear on Troy’s opening drive where they only needed two plays to find the end zone. After a five yard rush from Reed Palmer and an offsides penalty that moved the ball to the 43 yard line, Spencer Martin hit Trey Teribury in stride down the sideline for a 57 yard score.

Athens first pass of the game did not go so well, as Connor Davidson tried to force a ball into double coverage but ultimately had it picked off by Spencer Martin, his first of two interceptions on the game.

The Wildcats struggled with turnovers in this game, especially in the first half where they had three of them. They also struggled to end possessions with points, like on their second drive which looked very promising as they drove all the way down to Troy’s 11 yard line. Unfortunately, Athens came up empty on that drive, as their 28 yard field goal attempt was blocked by Seth Feldmeier.

The Trojans took were able to take full advantage of the Wildcats’ mistakes, which was one of the biggest reasons behind their offensive success in the first half. Just like on their first drive, Troy showed their aggressiveness with Martin connecting with Teribury on almost the exact same play that they ran on the first drive, however this time it only went for 37 yards. That big pass play led to Troy’s second touchdown of the game, a 21 yard run from Josiah Pesesky.

“They were daring us to throw early on, and we were really successful with it,” Troy Head Coach Jim Smith said. Martin only threw four passes in the first half, completing two of them for 94 yards and a touchdown, but all four of those passes were deep shots.

Athens eventually found an answer to Troy early in the second quarter, with a 40 yard catch and run score from Kade Rowe that cut Troy’s lead in half. 

That touchdown ended up being the Wildcats’ only score of the first half, but that’s not to say that Athens didn’t have other chances to put points on the board. As mentioned earlier, Athens drove all the way to Troy’s 11 yard line but came up empty due to a blocked field goal, and later in the first half, Davidson looked like he had hit Kade Rowe in stride for a touchdown, but the ball slipped through Rowe’s hands and fell to the ground.

Troy’s next drive was capped off with some trickery, as Martin tossed the ball to Josiah Pesesky who lofted a ball to the end zone right into the arms of Trey Teribury for a touchdown. “We have a couple tailbacks who can throw the ball, and if we are struggling to stalk a guy because he’s running through us and starting to make more tackles on the edge, it’s time to hit them with the pitch pass,” Coach Smith said.

A 28 point first half for the Trojans was capped off by a pick six from Logunn Heasley, which was their third takeaway of the first half, all of which were interceptions.

The third quarter is where things started getting interesting, as Athens drove down the field on their opening drive of the second half and scored on a 20 yard connection between Davidson and Nolan Raupers, cutting Troy’s lead down to 14.

That’s when Troy started to make mistakes which allowed Athens to crawl their way back into a game that was seemingly in blowout territory at halftime. The Trojans fumbled three times in the second half, two of which came in the third quarter. The second of those fumbles came on a faulty pitch by Spencer Martin that led to a quick scoop and score by Devin Maxfield.

“We just told the guys to keep our composure, to make [Athens] earn everything,” Coach Smith said. It seemed like Athens had found the momentum to take full control of the game in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans had other plans. A beautifully executed 16 play drive consisting of nothing but run plays led to a 33 yard field goal for Troy, extending their lead to 31-21 with just under five minutes left.

After that field goal by the Trojans, Athens never came close to end zone again, turning the ball over on each of their final two drives which sealed the win for Troy.

“Our kids had some questions coming into this game, they put up 35 points on us a year ago, but we were much better tonight,” Coach Smith said. “We were much better at keeping Davidson at bay and picking him off, sacking him, getting after him, breaking down and making tackles.” The Trojans defense finished the game with four interceptions, two of those coming from Spencer Martin while the other two came from Logunn Heasley and Josiah Pesesky.

The Trojans improve to 1-1 on the season with the victory, with their next matchup being at home against 2-0 Towanda. With the loss, Athens falls to 1-1 and they’ll be hoping to rebound at home next week against 0-2 Cowanesque Valley.