Troy 26, McLouth 14

It was the first meeting between former DVL foes since 2009, and Troy upset the Bulldogs at McLouth for their first playoff win since 2008 with a 26-14 victory on Friday in Class 2-1A Regionals.  Troy never trailed and despite totaling just 12 more total yards of offense, thte Trojan defense had three crusial takeaways and the offensive line played exceptional in a huge road win.  

McLouth drove inside the Troy redzone on their opening possession after forcing a three-and-out, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs.  The Trojans responded going 83 yards on 12 plays and Tristan Seer ran in a 3 yard score for the 6-0 lead with only 2:11 to play in the first quarer.  Troy got the ball right back as Nathan Gaarder stripped and recovered a McLouth fumble, and the Trojans went 73 yards on just 6 plays before Speer found the endzone again with a 2 yard score on a fourth and goal play. A two-point pass to Collin Jasper had the visitors up 14-0 at halftime.  

Both teams traded punts to start the third quarter before Alex Schmille picked off a Jack Counrtney pass for his fourth defensive INT of the year.  Derek Franken made it 20-0 caping a short 3 play, 20 yard drive with a 15 yard TD run then Cutar Huss intercepted another pass for Troy's third takeaway of the game and 25th turnover created this season.  McLouth drove 11 plays and 80 yards to get on the board in the final quarter on a 31 yard run by Drew Cerny, but Speer answered with his third TD rushing on the night with a 15 yard sneak to make it 26-6.  The Bulldogs had a nice kickoff return and Courtney connected with Nick McAferty on a 43 yard pass and Courtney ran in the point -after for the final margin of 26-14.  

The Bulldogs end their third straight winning season at 7-3 and seniors, Cerny and McAferty went out with another great statistical game.  Cerny had 20 carries for 154 yards to lead McLouth on the ground and McAferty had 4 receptions for 87 yards to lead the arial attack as both players scored.  The duo eclipsed 2,700 yards of total offense as McLouth went 5-0 in the new Northeast Kansas League.

Troy, who had won only two games each of previous two years continues a magicaly turnaround season under first-year Head Coach, Derek Jasper.  Troy is 7-3 and gets to host Lyndon on Friday in the second round.  The Trojans were very balanced with Derek Franken leading the rushing attack with 87 yards on 20 carries and Speer added 79 yards on 23 carries and three scores in his fifth varsity game since becoming elgible at Troy.  It was the second time Speer led a team to a post-season victory as he quarterback the Doniphan West Mustangs as a freshman to a thrilling hail-marry win at St. Mary's in 2011.