Athens downs Troy to shift rivalry Red Hawks’ way
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — Midway through the annual Troy-Troy Athens game on Friday, Athens quarterback Ben Bartnowak missed a screen throw to his running back, who promptly took the poor throw off the bounce in the backfield and took it upfield for a first down.
A fitting play amidst a rough game and season for Troy.
Athens rolled past Troy on Friday to the tune of 399 total yards, and posted a 31-13 OAA Red Division victory, for its first win in the rivalry since 2006.
“I don’t feel like we did anything very well,” Troy coach Gary Griffith said. “There were times when we came the ball, there were some running lanes, we moved the ball pretty well.”
Athens (7-2) moved on to host its first playoff game since 2004, while Troy completed a 3-6 season, its worst since 2005, representing a major shift in the rivalry.
“This was a great win for our program,” said third-year Athens coach Josh Heppner, who is the fourth head coach in eight years.
While the Red Hawks are celebrating a postseason berth and third-place finish in the OAA-Red behind league co-champions Clarkston and Lake Orion, Troy is left wondering what to do next.
“We’ve got to look at tweaking the offense, tweaking the defense, because there’s got to be things we can do to play better,” Griffith said.
Troy opened the game with a 12-play, 77-yard drive in almost five minutes that netted no points. After converting a third-down and fourth-down conversion, the Colts faced second- and-goal at the 4, where senior Oliver Jiang coughed up the football and Athens recovered.
It was all Athens from there.
The Red Hawks then proceeded to drive 96 yards in 10 plays, helped out by two Troy penalties, for a touchdown drive that included four double-digit yardage plays. Bartnowak scampered in from 2 yards out to open the scoring for Athens (7-2, 6-2).
“I think that pretty much set the tone for how the game was going to go,” Griffith said. “That started our parade of penalties that never ended.”
Once the Red Hawks took the lead, they kept it, winning the battle up front. They outgained Troy by over 399-292, and shifty running back Sam Haskell wreaked havoc in open space. Haskell finished with nine carries for 123 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns.
After the two teams traded punts, Troy again moved inside the five-yard line and again stalled. This time it was two false start penalties that moved the Colts back and halted another five-minute drive. Senior Sean Murphy booted a 21-yard field goal to put Troy on the board.
That brought up the Colts’ next issue — inability to get off the field on third down.
After Troy forced two incomplete passes to start the next series, Bartnowak found Lonnie Bolden for a 39-yard screen pass on third-and-10. A tacked-on face mask penalty put Athens in the red zone, and the Hawks punched it in three plays later on a 5-yard run from Haskell.
In a minute, Troy raced down for a half-ending field goal that made it 14-6 after seven time-consuming drives ate up the first half. But Athens piled on from there.
A 40-yard run through several would-be tacklers set up an Athens field goal on the first series of the second half. Sandy Mouch’s 30-yard boot put the Red Hawks up 17-7 with 8:46 still to play in the third quarter.
Troy clawed back with a 33-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Justin Losey, but Athens forced a three-and-out in between two more touchdown drives, building its lead to 31-13.
Bolden (5-yard run) and Haskell (4-yard run) scored Athens’ last two touchdowns, one coming late in the third quarter and Haskell’s final TD with 8:31 left on the clock to cap the scoring. Both drives went eight plays for 65 and 62 yards, respectively, as Athens methodically moved the ball down the field to run away with the rivalry game.
“We played four quarters of hard-fought football,” said Heppner. “It’s always nice to beat our rivals from Troy. We’ll enjoy this and then we have to get ready for the playoffs.”
Troy (3-6,2-5) was left reeling with its third straight loss.
“We reached a point in the game where we just stopped tackling,” Griffith said. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”
For the third straight week, Griffith was frustrated with his team’s play.
“They ran the plays we practiced, I had the calls I wanted, the kids were in a position to make plays, we just didn’t make plays,” he said.
Now, Troy will head into 2012 returning a quarterback, three interior offensive linemen, and three of its front seven. But Griffith was still reeling from the loss after the game.
“There’s no motivation from this,” he said. “We got our butt kicked.”
Athens will learn its postseason first-round opponent Sunday night, when the MHSAA releases its playoff pairings.
(Jake Lourim is part of the AdaVan Media Group-NorthOaklandSports.com’s Student Correspondence Program and a student at Troy High School. For information to be a student writer, e-mail Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or Marketing Manager Dennis VanWingerden at dennis@northoaklandsports.com)
Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Student Columns, Troy, Troy Athens
