SHICKSHINNY – Heading into Week 8, Troy has started and maintained a perfect record largely through its ball control, ground and pound offense along with stout and stingy defense.
That continued on Saturday night, as Troy stopped Northwest twice inside the 10-yard line, and those two missed opportunities proved key as Troy kept the ball away from the Rangers’ explosive offense for just long enough while also capitalizing on their own scoring chances to improve to 8-0 with a 35-13 win over Northwest.
“That’s what we are and that’s how we win, and if we want to have any chance next week against a highly-ranked team from Loyalsock, that’s what we have to do – limit their touches, have seven, eight, nine-minute drives and put points on the board occasionally, and that’s what we did tonight,” said Troy coach Jim Smith.
For as great as the Trojans’ season has gone thus far, it’s really only just beginning, as their schedule heats up over the last two weeks of the regular season. They face Loyalsock (7-1) next week, a contender in the District 4 Class 3A playoffs, who they beat handily last year, 42-14, before closing out the regular season with their rivalry game against Canton (8-0), last year’s Class A semi-finalist. Then comes the Class 2A playoffs, the rankings for which had Troy in second place this week, behind only also undefeated Mount Carmel.
The Trojans will need similar efforts to those turned in on Saturday night in their remaining games. Those two missed opportunities in the red zone for Northwest were all the more important because Troy held the ball for nearly eight minutes longer than the Rangers. The momentum swing early on would prove to be too much for Northwest to overcome, despite a valiant effort to come back in the second half.
Troy scored on its first possession after receiving the opening kickoff, going 68 yards in nine plays capped by Kael Millard’s two-yard touchdown run. That drive took 4:08.
After the teams exchanged punts, the Rangers took advantage of a short Troy punt to start their drive near midfield and had a first-and-goal at the Trojan 2-yard line. But Jacob Bobersky was stuffed for a two-yard loss and Carter Hontz was then sacked for a seven-yard loss. Hontz got back eight yards on third down, but on fourth down, was sacked again for a loss of two.
Troy took over at its own 5-yard line, and proceeded to put together a 13-play drive that took over half the second quarter – 7:41 – that ended with a 15-yard Clayton Smith touchdown run, the first of two on the night for the junior running back, who finished with 184 yards on 21 carries for the Trojans, who had 399 on the ground.
Smith picked up his second score of the night on a 62-yard run on Troy’s second offensive play of the second half, which came after the Trojans stopped the Rangers inside the 10 on Northwest’s first drive of the second half. The Rangers took nine plays to get the ball to a first-and-goal on the Troy 7, but a sack and three incomplete passes made the trip another empty one.
“We were down inside the 5-yard line twice and didn’t capitalize and you can’t do that against a good football team,” said Northwest coach Carl Majer. “I felt we played hard-nosed football with them and that’s a good football team. There’s a reason they’re 8-0. Overall, I felt we played hard and had our opportunities. We scouted them well, the kids knew what they were going to do, but we just didn’t fully execute.
“We’re close, we just can’t get over that little hump of being fully healthy. We got back (offensive lineman) Hickory Bonham this week, but then we lost Nick Stevens, our leading tackler. We just can’t seem to get over the injury bug.”
The Rangers did manage to score on their next possession when Hontz took a quarterback keeper 47 yards for a touchdown on a fourth-and-2 play, cutting Troy’s lead to 21-7 with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
But the Trojans answered with another long and methodical drive, going 76 yards in 13 plays, capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Evan Woodward to Justice Chimics with just :04 left in the quarter.
Northwest was then able to finish a drive in the red zone on its ensuing possession, but Troy made the difficult as well as it took four plays from the 1-yard line to finally punch it in on Adam Chonko’s one-yard run, cutting the lead to 28-13.
But the Rangers were unable to take advantage of Troy’s lone turnover of the game on the Trojans’ ensuing drive, as they were forced to punt after Hontz was sacked twice on Northwest’s subsequent possession.
Hontz managed to still throw for 142 yards and run for 53, with the majority coming on his touchdown run, but he was under pressure for much of the night as Troy sacked him seven times. Although many of those sacks were the result of pressure up front, some were also the result of good coverage downfield, as Hontz was unable to find any of his weapons downfield.
“We have some pretty athletic kids. We’re young but we’ve got a lot of speed,” said Smith. “We’re not a huge team or a big team but we’re strong and fast and athletic and we can match up against teams that like to do this kind of stuff.”
The Trojans tacked on a late score on Jackson Taylor’s three-yard touchdown run with just over a minute left in the game. That capped a 97-yard scoring drive that took 10 plays and 4:39 after a 56-yard punt by Northwest pinned Troy back at their own 3.
“We haven’t had a full week since Week 1 with the same starting offensive line two weeks in a row,” said Majer. “We’re not gelling up front. We’re getting 90 percent of the blocks, and one guy breaks down, or we get the blocking up front but our back breaks down. Or, Carter doesn’t have a good first half like tonight, but then he came back and had a great second half. It’s just getting everything to gel and getting used to winning the big game. But we’re working hard and we’re in the playoffs, so we just have to find a way to win our last two games against two good teams.”
Northwest will travel to Muncy next week and host South Williamsport in Week 10. Those two contests should be a key in determining the seeding for the Class A playoffs, as Muncy, Northwest, and South Williamsport entered this week second, third and fourth, respectively, in the Class A rankings. Canton currently holds the top spot, but the Warriors have a game against four-time defending District 4A champion Jersey Shore next week, followed by the rivalry game against Canton in Week 10. Those two contests, along with Northwest’s next two games will largely sort out the first-round matchups for the Class A playoffs.
Troy 35, Northwest 13
Troy (8-0) 7 7 14 7 – 35
Northwest (5-3) 0 0 7 6 – 13
First quarter
7:52 – (T) Kael Millard 2-yard run (Chimics kick), 9-68, 4:08
Second quarter
5:21 – (T) Clayton Smith 15-yard run (Chimics kick), 13-95, 7:41
Third quarter
7:41 – (T) Clayton Smith 62-yard run (Chimics kick), 2-84, :21
5:42 – (N) Carter Hontz 47-yard run (Foley kick), 5-75, 1:59
:04 – (T) Justice Chimics 26-yard pass from Evan Woodward (Chimics kick), 13-76, 5:38
Fourth quarter
8:38 – (N) Adam Chonko 1-yard run (kick blocked), 10-75, 3:26
1:13 – (T) Jackson Taylor 3-yard run (Chimics kick), 10-97, 4:39
Statistics
T N
First downs 26 16
Rushes-net yards 50-399 32-90
Passing yardage 72 142
Passing 3-6-1-0 12-22-0-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 9-90 5-44
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Troy: Clayton Smith (21-184-2), Mason Woodward (9-34), Kael Millard (8-40-1), Evan Woodward (6-54), Jackson Taylor (4-31-1), Mason Smith (3-57), TEAM (1-(-1)); Northwest: Carter Hontz (14-53-1), Jacob Bobersky (13-35), Trevor Dietz (3-1), Adam Chonko (2-1-1)
PASSING — Troy: Evan Woodward (3-6-72-1-0); Northwest: Carter Hontz (12-22-142-0-1)
RECEIVING — Troy: Justice Chimics (2-41-1), Mason Smith (1-31); Northwest: Derek Dietz (3-54), Andrew Bonczewski (3-45), Thomas Bierly (3-22), Adam Chonko (2-20), Jacob Bobersky (1-1)
