Deer Lodge defeats Troy, 48-25
The Troy Trojans football team dropped the second game of their season 48-25 to the Deer Lodge Wardens. The loss moves the Trojans to 0-2 on the season.
The Trojans got off to a slow start in the first half and trailed the Wardens 34-13 to start the second half.
“We started off really slow and dug ourselves a pretty big hole right off the get-go,” head coach Brendan Miller, said. “We didn’t have the energy or intensity we needed and that lasted for most of the first half. In the second half we played a lot harder and we were pleased with the second half. The first half was terrible.”
Despite the loss the Trojans had another big day on the ground with 282 yards rushing.
“They were all hard earned yards,” he said. “In the first half we struggled to get anything going. Our line struggled to open up some holes. We used Sean Opland as a decoy and that opened up some holes for Mason Chapel. He had some big runs for us. He had a very good game for us. Opland got his yards, but they were all hard earned. It’s good to see what our skilled guys can do playing behind an inexperienced line. It will get better after this.”
After playing the first two games with an inexperienced offensive line the Trojans will be getting reinforcements this week with four linemen returning from academic ineligibility. Miller said the Trojans rushing attack will be even stronger moving forward with the experienced players returning.
“It’s huge for us,” Miller said. “The boys that missed time our ready to go. They are fired up and ready to show us what we can do. Our skilled guys are extremely excited. Hats off to the young guys who played in the first two games. They were put in a tough situation and they played hard. They stepped up and played their hearts out.”
The Trojans have given up a lot of yards in their first two games and the returning players will help shore up the Trojans run and pass defense.
“It will be huge for us defensively because we’ve been getting torched a lot with our passing defense,” he said. “We haven’t been able to get any pressure on the quarterback. With these guys coming back we will be able to get some pressure. It will be huge for us because the defensive backs can only cover somebody for so long. It will help with our run defense, but our pass defense as well.”
The Trojans will hit the road this week to take on Loyola this Friday, Sept. 18. Loyola is one of the tougher programs in Class B and Miller said it will be a good test for his team.
“They are always a tough team,” Miller said. “They are usually a top 10 team in the state. I’m looking for us to come out and be competitive with them. Hopefully they overlook us. They’ve seen the film and the scores from the first two weeks. We know that’s not who we are. Hopefully we can come out and shock them.”
Loyola is a pass first team and Miller said his team will be focused on their pass defense this week in practice.
“We’ve been getting killed with our pass coverage,” he said. “We’re not super fast back there. We’ve been having a tendency of looking back into the backfield at the quarterback and we’re trying to break that habit. We’re just trying to find a way to improve that. We are going to focus on that a lot this week. Loyola passes a lot. They maybe run 10 times a game.”
Miller said the key for Friday’s game will be controlling the time of possession and keeping Loyola’s offense off the field.
“They are a quick strike team,” he said. “They are in a four or five wide receiver set every time. We are going to try and wear them down with our run game. We think they are more of a finesse team. We are going to try and wear them down and have our way with them in the second half.”