TROY — Its an old cliche that says the team that makes the most plays wins, but on Friday Troy was able to make the plays when they needed to pull out a 23-7 win over Towanda during NTL football action.

The Trojans had six takeaways, were 5-for-9 converting third downs into first downs, and held the Knights to 3-for-7 on third downs, and 1-for-3 on fourth downs, while controlling the ball in the second half as they ran 35 plays to the Knights' 21.

"I'm proud of the way the defense responded, Towanda scored over 100 points the first two weeks and we gave up seven," Troy coach Jim Smith said. 

It was 3-yards and a cloud of dust for Troy as they ran the ball 50 times for 167 yards as Towanda proved they were up to the challenge in the trenches.

The difference was in the passing game where Spencer Martin was an efficient 10-for-11 for 143-yards and one interception. In fact, he never through a pass that touched the ground.

"Spencer did a nice job," said Smith. "He was lame all night with a bum ankle, but I'm proud that he was able to get through."

Josiah Pesesky had a big night receiving, hauling in four catches for 85-yards, including a pair of 40-plus yard catches that set up first and goals.

Trey Teribury added three catches for 30-yards, and Reed Palmer had a big 17-yard catch on third and long.

"A couple of the guys on the edge, Teribury and Pesesky, did a good job catching the balls when they came to them," Smith said. 

On the ground it was Evan Allen's turn to step up, with the fullback pounding out 64-yards and two scores on 13 carries. 

"Evan Allen ran like a man tonight," said Smith. "He had his breakout night, his eyes were right, and he was running physical."

The backs never know who it's going to be, they just have to be ready.

"It's just whoever is making the plays," said Allen. "We've got some beasts up front, and without them we wouldn't be able to do anything, so it's all glory to the line."

Jayden Kutt added 14 carries for 58-yards, and Martin had 12 carries for 38-yards and a score.

"It's been somebody different every week, and that's called team," Smith said. "I'm proud that we're building a team because I'm a believer here in Troy that you can't build your whole scheme off of one player, you've got to keep everybody involved, and we've always done a nice job."

Despite the score there were a lot of positives for the Knights. They went a full four quarters with the district runners-up from a year ago, gave as good as they got in the trenches, and showed what they could when their athletes could get out in the open.

"Just too many turnovers," Towanda coach Jamie Wecker said. "The kids showed up, and I think they learned they belong, which is really important. I'm really proud of the effort, we had some turnovers but we also had some really good execution. I think the more the kids played, the more they started to believe that they can actually be physical. That's a big team, and they're bigger in the trenches than we are but I thought we held our own very well on both sides of the ball."

Jazick Brown ran the ball 12 times for 70-yards and a touchdown with Gage Evans adding seven carries for 43-yards. 

Through the air Reese Sluyter was 10-for-104 yards and two picks, while even catching two of his batted balls.

Evans led the team in receiving with three catches for 50-yards.

It was an active night for both defenses.

Logunn Heasley and Pesesky each had interceptions for Troy, while Micah Pesesky recovered two fumbles. Thomas Moon and Seth Feldmeier also snatched Towanda fumbles.

For the Knights Evans had an interception with Kolton McPeak playing a strong game at middle linebacker, getting in on several tackles for loss and ripping out the ball for a turnover.

"Kolton had a great game," said Wecker. "The most impressive one for me was how he sniffed out that screen. I thought for a second it looked like that was going to be a gainer and he sniffed it out."

The defense was where he was impressed with.

"I thought our D-line did a nice job of holding up the offensive line so they didn't get to our second level," explained Wecker. "I think that opened up for our linebackers with McPeak, and (Shane) Maghamez, and Joey Montonya. I thought they could move pretty well because the line did a good job."

In the defensive backfield he felt their youth showed a little bit with them biting on the routes.

"That's a learning experience," said Wecker. "They're going to learn from that."

The defenses were ahead of the offenses to start the game with the two teams trading 3-and-outs.

Towanda was able to get inside Troy territory on their second drive, thanks in large part to a 20-yard Brown run.

However, their drive stalled inside the Trojan 40-yard line and they turned it over on downs.

Troy got their offense going on the ensuing drive, as Allen ran the ball five times straight for 29 yards to kick things off.

A 13-yard Martin keeper got them down to the 16-yard line, but Towanda's defense stood up. On third-and-1 Dom Miller got a tackle in the backfield, then on fourth down a bad pitch led to a fumble. Troy recovered but turned it over on downs.

The ensuing Knight drive went 3-and-out, and that's when Troy got going.

Starting at the Black Knight 37-yard line they needed just six plays to hit pay dirt as Allen punched one in from 2-yards out.

The key play was a 3-yard run from Kutt on third-and-3 to keep the drive alive, then a 14-yard gainer to get down inside the 15-yard line.

Allen followed with an 11-yard run himself to set up his scoring dive.

Newly signed kicker Landon Lee, brought over this week from the soccer team after an injury to Gavin Lykon-Leffler, punched through the extra point to make it 7-0 with 5:59 left in the half.

The following Towanda drive ended five plays in on a lost fumble, giving Troy prime position at the Black Knight 20-yard line.

The Knights would force back to back negative plays on the Trojans, then a false start backed them up even more.

They got back to the 22-yard line for a field goal attempt, but Towanda's rush was enough to make it short, keeping it a one score game.

Towanda would get to midfield on their next drive, but lost another fumble to the Trojans. Evans got the ball back with a pick three plays in.

With 34 seconds on the clock Sluyter completed three straight pass plays to get the Knights to the Trojan 16-yard line, but Heasley picked off the 1-for-10 pass to end the threat.

The Trojans got the ball to start the second half, taking over at the 40-yard line using seven plays to get into the end zone on a 9-yard Martin keeper.

Twice Towanda nearly had the drive stopped. The first was on third-and-3 at midfield but Palmer got the 3-yards necessary to get a fresh set of downs.

The second time was a third-and-10 from the 50 with Martin finding Pesesky for a 41-yard finger tip catch to set up the scoring run.

Lee's kick was good, and it was 14-0 Troy with 8:03 on the clock.

The ensuing drive ended with another turnover for the Knights, setting Troy up at the Towanda 45-yard line.

They needed just four plays to get to pay dirt, ending with a 6-yard scoring run that saw Allen refused to be denied the end zone. A 40-yard hook-up of Martin to Pesesky set up the score.

Towanda would block the kick to make it 20-0 with 5:39 left in the third.

With Troy pulling away and time ticking away the Knights needed something offensively, and they found it on the ensuing drive.

Starting at their own 40-yard line they shook off a minus-2 run to start, and went 62-yards on seven plays to get into the end zone.

A 16-yard pass play of Sluyter to Evans on third-and-12 kept the drive alive, then four plays later Brown got free down the right side for a 33-yard gain to the Trojan two.

Brown punched it in on the ensuing play to get the Knights on the scoreboard. Brayden Spencer hit the point after for a 20-7 ball game with 2:57 left in the third.

The two teams would trade punts, then trade lost fumbles.

Troy's final points came on a 27-yard Lee field goal with 4:04 left to play. It came off a 5-play scoring drive that started at the Towanda 38-yard line off Troy's fourth fumble recovery of the game.

A 22-yard Martin to Teribury hook-up set up Lee's kick.

Down by 16 with 3:56 left to play Towanda got some hope when Sluyter hit Evans for a 20-yard gain to get near midfield.

However, Troy forced three straight incompletions, then Pesesky picked off the fourth down pass to secure the win.

The win moves Troy to 2-1 on the season, and 2-0 in league play as they defend their NTL title.

"It feels good," said Allen. "We've been good, and we're striving to continue that."

They'll get a strong test next week when they host a Montgomery team that has state title ambitions in Class A.

"They're built a lot like we are," said Smith. "They're physical, their believes are similar to us. They can run the ball, which is why they win. It'll be a battle up front, and we're really excited for the opportunity to play another good team."

Towanda is back on the road at Muncy next week as they fall to 2-1 on the season.

"We know we've got to hold on to the ball a little bit better, and we're going to address that," said Wecker. "The things that we did well, how can we make them even better. It was hard to gauge the first two weeks how good we were playing. Watching game film we were better week two than we were week one. We're going to watch game film and see we did quite a few good things, so if we can just keep taking those steps I'm going to like where were going to be by the end of this year."

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TROY 23, TOWANDA 7

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

Tr: Evan Allen 2-yard run (Landon Lee kick), 5:59

Third Quarter

Tr: Spencer Martin 9-yard run (Lee kick), 8:03

Tr: Evan Allen 6-yard run (kick blocked), 5:39

To: Jazick Brown 2-yard run (Brayden Spencer kick), 2:57

Fourth Quarter

Tr: Landon Lee 27-yard field, 4:04

Individual Stats

Towanda

Rushing

Jazick Brown 12-70-1, Gage Evans 7-43, Reese Sluyter 8-27

Passing

Reese Sluyter 10-23-104-0-2

Receiving

Gage Evans 3-50, Reese Sluyter 2-0, Curtis Maynard 1-22, Jazick Brown 3-24, Shane Maghamez 1-8

Troy

Rushing

Evan Allen 13-64-2, Jayden Kutt 14-58, Spencer Martin 12-38-1, Reed Palmer 5-7, Josiah Pesesky 5-0

Passing

Spencer Martin 10-11-143-0-1

Receiving

Josiah Pesesky 4-85, Trey Teribury 3-30, Evan Allen 1-7, Reed Palmer 1-17, Vinnie Colton 1-4

Team Stats Towanda Troy

Rushes/Yards 27/130 50/167

Passing Yards 104 143

First Downs 12 15

Penalties/Yards 7/60 6/45

Fumbles/Lost 4/4 4/1

Interceptions: Towanda - Gage Evans; Troy - Josiah Pesesky, Logunn Heasley

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING