Pride causes an Irish fall

The Troy Fighting Irish were already at a manpower disadvantage before taking the field before less than 50 fans Saturday night at Lansingburgh High vs. the Auburn Pride. That disadvantage would get worse before the night was over.

Nico D'Aquino, complaining of a lack of playing time, left the team following last week's win over the Upstate Predators. Receiver Jallah Tarver was seen warming up at quarterback, but it was ZaQuawn Gordon who got the start.

Auburn, which lost to Troy earlier this season, came looking not only to avenge that loss, but also being swept last season. The Pride won the toss, but their first drive stalled after crossing into Troy territory. Anthony Fogarty, who was an offensive star at Lansingburgh, registered back-to-back sacks, forcing a punt.

On his first snap, Gordon was caught behind the line of scrimmage for a loss, but, two plays later, found Dre Wheatley, who'd gotten behind the defense, for a 70 yard scoring strike. David Fox's extra point barely got through, and Troy had a 7-0 lead, which they took into halftime.

Jump now to the fourth quarter, and suddenly, it's the Kasheem Jones show.

After Gordon came out of the game with a leg injury, Tarver took over at quarterback, but Jones picked off his first pass, and galloped 28 yards for the score. However, the extra point was blocked, and Troy held a slim 7-6 lead barely three minutes into the final frame.

Six minutes later, Jones struck again. With Trevon Perez-Tucker at QB in the Wildcat formation, Jones recovered a fumble, and went the distance again. A 2 point conversion failed, but Auburn took the lead, 12-7.

On Troy's last drive, with under two minutes to go, Tarver's fourth down pass fell incomplete. Tarver went ballistic on the official, arguing that he thought there should've been a defensive penalty on Auburn that wasn't called. The abusive language merited a penalty, but it got worse from there. Tarver bumped the official, and was ejected. The Pride, for all intents and purposes, ran out the clock, and Troy suffers its second loss, both at home, 12-7.

In all probability, Tarver will be suspended for the team's next game, a rematch with Syracuse, on August 17. Troy closes the season at home August 24 against Monroe County.

Troy has had problems with attendance, and on a night where the Albany Dutchmen were rained out, and the Albany Empire & Tri-City Valleycats were both out of town, the only thing left that kept fans away, of course, lack of publicity aside, was the simple fact that folks were exhausted after a long day either at Saratoga or any of the dozens of off track betting parlors in the region. The Irish don't have the resources presently to do any advertising to lure in more fans, but word of mouth just isn't working, and one fan said the players are getting discouraged. This can't happen with two games left before the playoffs.
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Speaking of the Valleycats, they made it two in a row over the Auburn Doubledays. Jairo Lopez, Thursday's loser, came back and pitched three solid innings in relief, as Tri-City shut out Auburn, 6-0. The Empire punched their ticket to hosting ArenaBowl at the Times-Union Center next Sunday night, thumping Baltimore, 62-21. They'll await the winner of today's Washington-Philadelphia game.

As noted, the Dutchmen & Amsterdam were washed out due to early afternoon rains making Connors Field at Siena unplayable. They'll try again today at 5.