Troy Uses Big Second Half to Take Care of UMass 52-31
In a matchup of a struggling Massachusetts squad versus one of the Sun Belt success stories, the Troy Trojans blew out the Minutemen in the second half for a 52-31 victory.
Well, this game was a tale of two halves. If you saw the first half, you’d think “Ok we have a game on our hands”. Troy was only up 28-17 and UMass held the Trojans to one score in the second quarter, right before the break.
TOUCHDOWN!!! John Johnson hauls in a 7-yard TD pass, XP is good and the Trojans lead 28-17 with 56 seconds left in the half. #RTW #OneTROY pic.twitter.com/2Ibln1uaYL
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) November 5, 2016
A big story in the first half was the fact that UMass was held to -1 rushing yards. They struggled to get much going offensively through the two quarters.
Troy carries an 11-point lead into the half #OneTROY #RTW pic.twitter.com/S0DymEbyZm
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) November 5, 2016
Then the second half went down. Troy started slow but slowly picked up the pace, scoring a field goal, then forcing a fumble on the following kickoff which led to a touchdown. They showed a bit of flair in scoring on an awesome double pass as QB Brandon Slivers pitched it to wide-out John Johnson who then threw it to Tervaris McCormick.
Johnson with the flick McCormick with the catch #RTW pic.twitter.com/YwV3YljAyf
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) November 5, 2016
TURNOVER!! Troy recovers a fumble on a kickoff. The fumble was recovered by Andre Flakes. Trojans take over at the UMass 16.#RTW pic.twitter.com/9Ea9brCDUn
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) November 5, 2016
That was the momentum shifter, as it suddenly became all Trojans all the time, with the Trojans scoring on the next three possessions. UMass scored 14 points the entire second half. The Troy defense shut them down completely.
READ CAREFULLY: WR John Johnson completes a 16-yard pass to McCormick for a Troy touchdown. That’s right. Troy up 38-24. pic.twitter.com/ip59h1gTt3
— Troy Trojans Football (@TroyTrojansFB) November 5, 2016
Troy moves to 7-1 and 4-0 in the #FunBelt, which is good enough to be tied for the conference lead with Appalachian State and Arkansas State. On November 11th Troy will face off against App St. which is guaranteed to be a great game. As for UMass they drop to 2-8 and will have a tough road game at fellow independent BYU on November 19th.