Trojans drop nail-biter to Lions

The Troy Trojans (1-2, 2-4) dropped a seesaw affair to Eureka (2-0, 4-2-1).

Senior Trojan receiver Luke Haggerty caught his seventh touchdown in the last three games when he caught a 20-yard strike from Gabe Hickman.

The Lions responded when Austin Perez scored on a two-yard dive. Eureka went up 14-7 in the second quarter when Trent Vaughn ran in from five yards out.

Continuing a season-long trend, Troy’s offense fought back with huge plays. Sophomore running back Sean Opland burned the Eureka defense with an 88-yard ramble. Opland staked a 21-14 halftime lead for the Trojans when he scored on another massive play, this time a 55-yard reception from Hickman.

Eureka found some firepower of their own in the third quarter when Cole Jankovsky stunned Troy with a 94-yard run. A successful two-point run by Vaughn made it 22-21. That play proved huge.

Things got weird in the fourth quarter when the teams, and individual players, exchanged safeties. Eureka’s Perez first sacked Hickman in the end zone to score a safety and make it 24-21. Turn about was fair play when Hickman later found redemption and stuffed a Perez run in the end zone, making it 24-23.

Troy was unable to put any more points on the board and lost a nailbiter.

“It was an exciting game,” Troy Head Coach Jim Dasios said. “It would have been more exciting if we won. But our defense played its best game all year. Dallas Carr did a great job preparing the defense and it was good to see more kids play aggressively.”

Troy did not use one substitute in the game, starting four sophomores both ways.

“Teams like Eureka can rotate,” Dasios said. “Kids get tired at the end but I’m proud of how they played. We could have won and I think we should have. I know the other coach thinks he should have won too.”

Eureka Head Coach Trevor Utter called the game a “battle between two pretty evenly matched teams.”

Troy will look back at two missed scoring chances at the goal-line. Eureka denied Troy at the 1- and 5-yard lines.

Troy hosts Thompson Falls (1-1, 2-5) at 7 p.m. Friday.