Troy T-day Game Recap

Tune up the band, bring on the cheerleaders, and find a good seat at the “Vet.” The weather-perfect T-Day was as predicted by Head Coach Neil Brown:  Fun and fan friendly; from beginning to end.  It was dagwood sandwich of events from pre-scrimmage one-on-one drills, fan competitions, x’s and o’s of 11 on 11, the razzle-dazzle of the final play, or culminating with every lineman’s dream (spin move and lunge – though not exactly Herschel Walker-like).

THE MEAT

The first drive Terrance Corbelt came away with a sack to end the first offensive drive with the Grey team taking over after the punt.

The first big play came from the arm of Sawyer Smith placing a 44-yard bomb into the hands of Damion Willis for the Grey team.

Kaleb Barker broke off a 23-yard run that put the Trojans in prime scoring position. Barker kept the ball on an option run for a 21-yard touchdown run for the Grey team.

The Grey team was full of big plays with Jamarius Henderson breaking free for a 51-yard gain.

Bratcher Underwood put the ball through the uprights for the Grey team kicking a 30-yard field goal.

The White team never gave up and its very own Hunter Reese scooped up a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

The White team wasn’t calling it quits there. Tailback Keith Johnson took a pitch out for a 9-yard touchdown run.

White team came all the way back to tie it up at 19 with a Kyler Knudsen interception. That wasn’t the end there and Coach Brown proposed a best of three competition to break up the tie.

THE BUN

“Winners get steaks, losers get hotdogs” – Coach Brown

It’s the best of 3.  First up, “It’s big man on big man;” O-lineman on D-lineman, 1 on 1. The play was a quick slant…pretty quick anyhow; the pass was complete to Grey was complete but came up short of the goal line, Grey 1 White 0.   Next up, blind-side drill; just keep him off the QB, and you need to hold the block for 5 seconds (or so). It was bantam on bantam (sorry, skill on skill player, receiver vs. db) with the White holding on; White 1 Grey 1, or all tied at 20.

The victor of the day shall be decided on one final drill; either filets or a ballpark franks. Right out of the back yard, one with the ball and one with his heels on the goal line.  The man with the ball offensive lineman Zachery Branner, had the carry with the big “nasty” (spin move - from early days of ballet), followed by a leap, a lunge, a lean to the end zone for the score. The White team wins, 21-20.

THE WORKS

Game time with the Fans

Sprinkles of fan participation accompanied the scrimmage.  Winner winner go a chicken dinner – not – they received an autographed jersey sign by Coach Brown himself.

The first game was a trivia drive down the field game where one lucky fan had to throw a pass into the netted target while players answered questions to move the ball down field. This was a unique and fun game to get the fans into the T-Day festivities.

The next game up was a kicking game where two fans had former kickers square off to kick as many field goals in thirty seconds. The two kickers tied and left a brother and sister duke it out in a game of paper-rock-scissors. The duo ended up tying and both received autographed jerseys from Coach Brown.

The last game was for a trip to Baton Rouge with the football team to watch Troy take on LSU. The game was simple and the only thing this fan had to do was catch a deep ball from passing machine. The fan went up, came down and that lucky fan is going to Baton Rouge to see the Trojans take on the Tigers.