NTL BOYS' SOCCER: TROY LOOKS FOR BOUNCE BACK 2025 CAMPAIGN (2025-08-18)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
It’s a new year for Troy, and year two for head coach Dane Seeley. Last year’s team was competitive, but a lack of subs saw them run out of gas late in games. They still don’t have much of a bench this year, but Seeley is hoping that this now veteran team is more prepared for those challenges.

“We’re doing lots of stretching,” Seeley said. “And more running in the pre-season so we don’t have to run extra during the games, along with two-a-day practices instead of once a day. We’re focusing on going over our field work in the mornings, and then conditioning, stretching, and everything on top of that at night.”

They return their most prolific goal scorer from last year in Landon Jenkins, as they lost just two seniors from the 2024 squad.

“The whole off-season we spent a lot of time up in Vestal this year with the team,” he remarked. “That helped us get to know each other better, and get our passing down. I hope that transitions well into the regular season.”

They also return their keeper, Timothy Hornung, who was one of their biggest bright spots last season.

“We still have very low amount of players, but I see the aggressiveness and competitiveness in every single player,” Hornung said. “I feel like we have a good chance to win - I feel like we can do very good this year.”

Junior Jordan Rockwell will help lead things in the middle of the field as the Trojans put a focus on controlling the ball, which will allow them to control the pace of the game.

“If you can’t pass or control the ball you kind of just watch the other team play around you,” he said. “I’ve been working on trapping the ball so it doesn’t get away from me, especially in high intensity situations, or when I’m really moving fast.”

Seeley knows they don’t have the numbers to get into a running game with other teams.

“I drastically underestimated the speed change from junior high up to high school, and now that I am aware of how much more fast this is, everybody’s different level of play, and what we need to work on that I didn’t think we had to work on last year,” he said. “I am confident that we are going to go at least .500 this year, if not further.”

Besides those three Seeley also expects Logan Strope and Trevor Swain to be big parts of the team this season.

But he also knows they’ll be relying a lot on Hornung, as well.

“I’m looking for Timmy to stay as strong as he was, and get even stronger,” Seeley said.

Seeley is also taking a different approach to things as he puts a bigger emphasis on tactical understanding using whiteboard work.

“We’ve gone over in a different format for the ones that learn it better looking at something versus doing it in person,” he explained.

It also helps bringing back nine of 11 starters and having a team that is pretty much juniors and seniors, and having a smaller team does bring out the brotherhood aspect of things.

“You definitely get more time with hanging out with all the individual people,” Hornung said. 

And being a veteran team Jenkins feels that the sky is the limit.

“Last year we were competitive in a lot of games, and it’ll be interesting to see how we do this year,” he said. “We only lost two seniors, and we have a lot of seniors and juniors this year, so it’s going to be good to see the progression that these guys have made over time.”

ROSTER (Grade)
Emmitt Cole (12)
Patrick Fitzsimmons (12)
Tim Hornung (12)
Landon Jenkins (12)
Jason Wang (12)
Jordan Rockwell (11)
Trevor Swain (11)
Ethan Hoffman (11)
Landon Lee (11)
Gavin Lykon-Leffler (11)
Hunter Litchfield (11)
Aaron Prouty (11)
Logan Strope (11)
Gabriel Blaney (10)

SCHEUDLE
Aug. 23 at Hughesville Tournament, 10 a.m.
Aug. 25 vs Muncy, 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 27 vs NPL, 4 p.m.
Aug. 30 at Montoursville, 3 p.m.
Sep. 2 vs Towanda, 4 p.m.
Sep. 4 at NEB, 4 p.m.
Sep. 9 at Athens, 6 p.m.
Sep. 11 at Wellsboro, 5:30 p.m.
Sep. 13 at Williamson, 10 a.m.
Sep. 17 vs Galeton, 4 p.m.
Sep. 20 vs Loyalsock (Canton HS), 5 p.m.
Sep. 24 at Galeton, 5:30 p.m.
Sep. 27 at NEB, 1 p.m.
Oct. 1 at NPL, 4 p.m.
Oct. 4 vs Jersey Shore, 2 p.m.
Oct. 7 vs Williamson, 4 p.m.
Oct. 9 at Towanda, 6 p.m.



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