Valley Sports ReportATHENS — For more than three quarters, Athens played toe-to-toe with the defending state champions, but a 28-point fourth quarter saw Troy pull away from the Wildcats for a 51-35 win during NTL football action here Friday at Alumni Stadium.
For much of the game, it was tit-for-tat with both teams going at it, and the stars on both sides shining bright.
Athens junior Connor Davidson combined for 380 total yards — 21 rushes, 121 yards, two touchdowns and 13-for-28 passing for 259 yards, two TDs, and two interceptions, while Troy’s Brendan Gilliland returned to run for 256 yards and three scores on 21 carries.
“That’s kind of what we expected - punch, counter-punch,” said Athens coach Shawn Bradley. “Our kids stood up to them. We fought, we we’re winning going into the fourth quarter, we’ve just got to finish. It’s something we can learn a lot from - hats off to them, but our kids played well.”
The key play came in the fourth quarter with Athens down by eight points. The Trojans were looking at a 4th-and-1 inside their own 30. Gilliland made a play after initially being bottled up, racing 71 yards for a touchdown to break open the contest.
“We’ve just got to make a play there,” said Bradley. “There’s a reason why the kid is the returning state Player of the Year - he’s a stud. We just have to make a play there, and we didn’t.”
Gage Marmor had four catches for 86 yards, while James Friend finished with four catches for 80 yards, and a score. Ryan Cook had 46 yards receiving with a touchdown on two receptions and Brendan Cooke had a 39-yard reception.
Brendan Cooke also ran for 30 yards on eight carries.
Mason Smith ran the ball 14 times for 137 yards and two scores, while going 6-for-8 for 84 yards through the air. Kael Millard had seven carries for 19 yards and two touchdowns.
Trey Teribury hauled in three catches for 42-yards and Gilliland had two catches for 32 yards.
Troy opened the scoring with a 10-play, 57-yard drive. A 3-yard run by Gilliland on 4th-and-2 at the Athens 38 kept things alive for Troy.
Then Smith had two big passes, a 10-yard pass to Josiah Pesesky to the Athens 25, followed by a 20-yard pass to Gilliland down to the Wildcat 1-yard line.
Millard punched it in from there, followed by Gavin Lykon-Leffler’s kick for a 7-0 lead with 6:49 left in the opening quarter.
Athens responded with a 15-play, 75-yard scoring drive of its own.
Davidson hit Friend for passes of 37 and 10 yards, then scrambled 11 yards to paydirt. The kick after failed making for a 7-6 contest with 11:48 left in the second.
The Wildcats would force a Troy turnover on downs, while their ensuing drive ended with a Fisher 29-yard field goal to give them a 9-7 lead with 5:22 left in the half.
Troy’s third drive was a quick one as Smith ran 78 yards to the end zone on the second play from scrimmage. Lykon-Leffler hit the point after for a 14-9 contest with 4:16 on the clock.
The Wildcats responded with a quick hitting play of their own as Davidson found Cook for a 43-yard scoring strike on their second play of the drive. Fisher’s kick made it 16-14 with 3:57 left in the half.
Troy had the finals say of the half, though, as they went 10 plays to get Lykon-Leffler in position for a field goal.
He split the uprights from 38 yards with one second on the clock for a 17-16 Trojan lead at the break.
Athens would retake the lead early in the third as they went 11 plays down to the Troy 4-yard line. However, the Trojans kept them out of the end zone as the Wildcats settled for a 21-yard Fisher kick to make it 19-17 with 7:12 left.
A squib kick and an Athens penalty gave Troy the ball at the Wildcat 39-yard line to start the ensuing drive.
Gilliland needed just two plays to score from there, a 17-yard run followed by a 22-yard scoring run to make it 23-19 with 5:39 left in the third.
The fast-moving Wildcats punched back in their ensuing drive, which started with a Davidson 39-yard run to the Trojan 20.
Five plays later, he hit Friend on a short slant for a 3-yard touchdown pass, making it 26-23 after the Fisher kick with 2:51 left in the third.
Troy came back with a 9-play scoring drive that went into the fourth quarter.
Smith carried the load this time with runs of 15 and 22 yards, while also hitting Teribury for 16 and 17 yard strikes.
Millard finished things off with a 2-yard run to make it 30-26 after the Lykon-Leffler kick with 10:11 left in the game.
Athens’ ensuing drive ended with a Logunn Heasley interception at the Troy 24-yard line. Three plays later, Gilliland ripped off a 62-yard run for a touchdown to make it 37-26 with 7:17 left in the game.
“(Davidson's) going to learn from that stuff,” Bradley said about the interception. “There’s some things he can learn, he’s going to make plays with his feet, but we’ve got to get the ball out a little bit quicker sometimes. He’ll make those adjustments. He’s a young kid, he played a great game, we’ve just got to get the ball out quicker.”
Athens recovered as Davidson hit Marmor for 52-yard pass play down to the Trojan 11-yard line. The Wildcats got as close as the 5 before getting stopped and settling for a 22-yard Fisher kick to make it a 37-29 game with 3:43 left.
Then came the game-changing play. On third-and-1 the Wildcats were able to stuff Millard, forcing a fourth-and-short, but Gilliland used a second effort to not only get the first down but also the 71-yard score to make it 44-29 with 3:43 left to play.
A Mason Smith interception on Athens’ next drive set up a 5-yard scoring run by Smith with 1:37 on the clock to make it 51-29.
As time expired Davidson punched one in from a yard out to make it a 51-35 final.
While the Wildcats didn’t get the win they did get clarification that their fast start to the season has them going in the right direction.
“Our kids didn’t quit,” said Bradley. “They kept playing football. We’d like to win that one, but someone’s got to lose — it was a good football game.”
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Connor Davidson. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens senior James Friend. ... PHOTOS BY MATT PATTON.
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TROY 51, ATHENS 35
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
T: Kael Millard 1-yard run (Gavin Lykon-Leffler kick), 6:49
Second Quarter
A: Connor Davidson 11-yard run (Zachary Fisher kick), 11:48
A: Zachary Fisher 29-yard field goal, 5:22
T: Mason Smith 78-yard run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 4:16
A: Ryan Cook 43-yard pass from Connor Davidson (Fisher kick), 3:57
T: Gavin Lykon-Leffler 38-yard field goal, :01
Third Quarter
A: Zachary Fisher 21-yard field goal, 7:12
T: Brendan Gilliland 22-yard run (failed), 5:39
A: James Friend 3-yard pass from Connor Davidson (Fisher kick), 2:51
Fourth Quarter
T: Kael Millard 2-yard run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 10:11
T: Brendan Gilliland 62-yard run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 7:17
A: Zachary Fisher 22-yard kick, 3:43
T: Brendan Gilliland 71-yard run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 3:43
T: Mason Smith 5-yard run (Lykon-Leffler kick), 1:37
A: Connor Davidson 1-yard run (conversion failed), :00
Individual Stats
TROY
Rushing
Brendan Gilliland 21-256-3, Mason Smith 14-137-2, Kael Millard 7-19-2
Passing
Mason Smith 6-8-84-0-0
Receiving
Trey Teribury 3-42, Brendan Gilliland 2-32, Josiah Pesesky 1-10
ATHENS
Rushing
Connor Davidson 21-121-2, Brendan Cooke 8-30, Karson Sipley 1-1
Passing
Connor Davidson 13-28-259-2-2
Receiving
Gage Marmor 4-86-0, James Friend 4-80-1, Ryan Cook 2-46-1, Brendan Cooke 1-39, Sean Peters 2-8
Team Stats Troy Athens
First Downs 23 21
Rushes/Yards 42/412 30/152
Passing Yards 84 259
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 1/0
Penalties/Yards 3/40 6/48
Interceptions: Troy (Logunn Heasley, Mason Smith)
