High School Fridays: Amsterdam @ Troy (football), 9/13/19

On Friday the 13th, strange things are supposed to happen. Especially with a full moon over the stadium.

And so it was that Troy High opened a three game homestand at Picken Memorial Field tonight with Amsterdam providing the opposition in the Flying Horses' home opener. The first sign of trouble? Troy won the opening coin toss, and elected to receive. Usually, coach Bob Burns defers to the second half, but with his club sloppier than Messy Marvin at a chocolate convention last week at LaSalle, he felt he needed his offense to make a statement early.

After an exchange of punts, they did.

On their second possession, Troy drew first blood as Xavier Leigh broke through the Rams' defense and raced 45 yards to paydirt. An offside penalty on the PAT attempt by Amsterdam prompted Troy to go for a 2 point conversion, and fullback Cody Williams bulled his way into the end zone to give Troy an 8-0 lead roughly 3 1/2 minutes into the game.

Amsterdam tried to answer. After Troy's Jonah Griswold's kickoff rolled out of bounds, the Rams set up shop at their 35 yard line. One pass from Tom Ziskin to Josiah Newborn had the Rams in prime position with first and goal at the Troy 5. On 4th & goal, Ziskin was intercepted by Darius Holmes in the end zone, ending the threat. Soon after, Leigh broke off another big run, this one for 65 yards. Griswold, who missed his only PAT attempt last week, converted this time, upping the lead to 15-0. Right at the end of the quarter, Alex Wolfe found Makai Cruel in the end zone, and Troy had a 22-0 lead after the first 12 minutes.

Unfortunately, complacency took over, and for a while, so did the Rams.

Amsterdam's Peyton Ausfeld broke off a 74 yard run just 21 seconds into the second quarter. Unfortunately, a two point conversion attempt came up short, and the lead was trimmed to 22-6. Troy muffed the onside kick, and Amsterdam recovered, and less than two minutes later, Cam Chrzanowski caught a 13 yard pass from Ziskin. Ausfeld caught a pass for the 2 point conversion, and we had a game again at 22-14.

Just before the half, Ziskin flipped a 6 yard pass to Rein Desbiens, but the 2 point conversion failed, and the teams went into the half with Troy clinging to a 22-20 lead.

The other downer for Troy, besides the defense going missing in the second quarter, and this shouldn't be a surprise, was another wave of penalties, usually at inopportune times. With only a dozen seniors on his roster, coach Burns is lacking veteran leadership when he needs it the most.

But whatever he told his team at halftime worked. A shade over five minutes into the third quarter, Wolfe punched in from 2 yards out. Griswold converted the extra point, and the lead was back to nine at 29-20. Four minutes later, Leigh broke loose again, this time for 46 yards. Wolfe flipped a pass to Connor Dwyer for the 2 point conversion, and the lead was extended to 37-20, as Troy started to pull away.

Ziskin's night was over, and punter Yandeel Vasquez took over at quarterback. His first pass was picked off by Cruel, and Troy cashed in as Xavier Ward, on an end around, scored from 5 yards out. Jaylen Riggins caught the 2 pointer, and now it was 45-20 as we entered the final frame. Sophomore Austin Francis took over at QB for the 2 pointer, as Wolfe finished with a TD run and, on defense, an interception and some key defensive plays. Wolfe was not much of a contributor on defense last season as a sophomore, but now he's become more of a two-way player, much like his predecessors, Joe Casale and John Germinerio.

With under two minutes left in the game, Amsterdam's Destin Ferrell ran one in from 29 yards out, but the two point conversion failed. Troy's offense got a first down on the ensuing possession before going into victory formation to lock down a 45-26 win.

Next week, CBA, also 2-0, comes to town.
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Other Troy High news: The cheerleaders have a new coach, as Amanda Myers takes over for Katelyn Waters. There are only 17 varsity cheerleaders this season, down from 20+ the last couple of years. Curious.

Troy's struggles in other sports continue, as the Flying Horses fell to Guilderland in women's soccer & tennis, volleyball, golf, & men's soccer on Thursday. The volleyball squad is at .500 (2-2), so things might not be so bad this year.