Troy Falters in Boone, Loses First Conference Game and Division Crown

On a cold and dreary day in Boone, North Carolina, Kidd Brewer Stadium was utterly electric as Troy and Appalachian State battled for a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game.

For Troy, the game was about as gloomy as the cloudy, sub-45 degree weather as the Mountaineers powered their way to a 21-10 victory and East division title.

Troy’s offense sputtered from the start and never got the engine running while the Mountaineers used a hot first half to take a commanding lead.

Nearly everything seemed to bounce App State’s way in the first quarter. Evan Troy’s biggest play of the opening stanza was completely wiped away the every next play.

On Troy punter Tyler Sumpter’s second punt of the game, he booted a 70 yard punt and downed the Mountaineers at their own two-yard line. App State running back Darrynton Evans bounced a run outside for 58 yards on the first play, though.

That run kickstarted the first scoring drive of the game. Running back Marcus Williams followed up Evans’ run with a 23 yard run of his own. Later, Thomas found Corey Sutton on a short cross route who ran it in for six on third and goal from the 16.

Down 7-0, Neal Brown got tricky and it almost worked. Faced with a fourth and short near midfield, Troy ran a fake punt, its first of the season.

Sumpter completed a pass to Blace Brown who picked up the first down. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring the ball with him to the ground. The Mountaineers recovered in great field position and converted two third downs on their way to touchdown number two.

Thomas found Sutton who made a toe-tapping catch in the back of the endzone to put App State up 14-0 just inside the second quarter.

It wouldn’t get much better for Troy, either. A Deondre Douglas fumble gave the ball right back to App State and the Mountaineers turned that into another touchdown.

Midway through the second quarter, Troy finally put a dent in the scoreboard and avoided the shutout with a Sumpter field goal.

Troy had marched its way inside the five-yard line and was prepared to go for it on fourth and short but a false start forced the kicking team out.

The remainder of the half featured nothing more than a missed 47-yard field go by Sumpter. Smith heaved one toward the endzone in the final seconds but it was picked off by App State receiver Thomas Hinnegan.

As the sun dipped behind the mountains, Troy started to come alive underneath the lights.

The Trojans forced four consecutive Mountaineer three-and-outs and squeezed a short touchdown drive in there to cut the App State lead.

Set up by a short punt and 18 yard BJ Smith run, Sawyer found Deondre Douglas in the endzone. More accurately, Douglas found the football. The pass was deflected but Douglas made an acrobatic grab just before the ball hit the turf.

The rest of the quarter went a little something like this:

• App State three-and-out
• Troy turnover on downs
• App State turnover on downs
• Troy interception
• App State three-and-out
• Troy three-and-out

After cranking out over seven yards per carry in the first half, Troy stifled App State and held the Mountaineers to 0.6 yards per carry on 11 attempts in the third quarter.

The halftime deficit and a staunch Mountaineer defense was still too much to overcome for Troy.

The Trojans mustered just 19 yards of offense and one first down in the fourth quarter. App State held on to the ball for over 11 of the final 15 minutes.

The entire game was wrapped up into one play. Faced with a fourth and country mile in the final three minutes of the contest, Smith hit Luke Whittemore in the breadbasket a yard beyond the sticks. He dropped it.

The Trojans had an abysmal day offensively in the loss. Troy gained just 232 yards and averaged just 2.3 yards per carry. When you have more turnovers (4) than third down conversions (3), you’re going to have a bad time.

The defense kept Troy in the game, pitching a shutout in the second half. App State gained just 101 yards in the back half of the contest and had to punt six times.

Yet, it seemed like the Mountaineers always had the ball. Despite gaining 19 yards on 16 third quarter plays, App State was in possession for nearly nine minutes in the quarter.

It wasn’t all dreary, though. To go along with the first 70 yard punt, Sumpter booted one 75 yards in the second half. That makes him the only punter in the country with two 70+ yard punts in a single game.

“(Sumpter) kept us in the game, there’s no doubt,” Brown said after the game. “He swung the field position all day.”

App State will host Louisiana-Lafayette next week in the Sun Belt Conference title game. Troy will have its eyes on the day after, the day it’ll find out where it will play for the final time in 2018.

As Troy athletic director Jeremy McClain said after the contest, “We’ve got one more game.”

The fans may have their eyes on some other Troy related storylines, as well, but that’s for another article.