BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
TROY — There was so much offense on display at Alparon Park on Friday that even the local skunk had to take in the spectacle as Troy pulled away from Central Mountain 70-29 during non-league football action.
“They had some nice plays that they hit us with, and we still have young guys in the secondary; they’re going to make mistakes,” said Troy coach Jimmy Smith. “We’ve got to work on that and get better. It’s good to play our starters into the second half, and that was a nice thing, so a lot of good comes out of a game like this.”
With Brendan Gilliland out Mason Smith shouldered the load offensively has he had a hand in eight of Troy’s 10 touchdowns. He finished with 210-yards rushing and five scores on 19 carries while he went 6-for-8 for 145-yards and three touchdowns through the air.
Reed Palmer caught all three touchdown passes with 48-yards of receiving while Trey Teribury hauled in three catches for 87-yards.
On the ground Jayden Kutt (13 carries, 80-yards, one touchdown) and Kael Millard (15 carries, 68-yards, one touchdown) did yeoman’s work standing in for Gilliland.
Gavin Lykon-Leffler showed no weariness in the kicking game, going 10-for-10 on the night.
“We’re just very fortunate to have some pretty special kids,” said Smith. “Mason stepped up, and Jayden Kutt stepped up at the tailback roll, and ran hard. Overall, the offense did pretty well.”
The Wildcats had their moments, too, as Kyle Everett was 7-for-14 for 130-yards and two scores, while Dalton McDermott ran the ball 18 times for 97-yards and a touchdown.
Mario Serafini (three catches, 55-yards) and Mason Masorti (two catches, 63-yards) both had touchdown catches.
“They beat us on some pass plays,” Smith said about Central Mountain. “We didn’t align correctly on on of the rushing plays, and that’s a mental mistake. But they have kids that make plays. This is a team that’s 0-8 but they’re a 5A school, the worst team they played is Williamsport at 4-4. You look at their body of work with a close game against Shikellamy, who is 5-3 going into this week. This is a team in our league that wins most of it’s games. They have mature kids, and they have a bear of a schedule, and were just happy to play a team that had some mature kids. It was good for us.”
Troy went 10-for-11 on offensive possessions, the only one they didn’t score on was because they ran out of time before the end of the half.
The Trojans took the opening kick-off and spent over half of the first quarter methodically moving down the field. They went 58-yards on 12 straight run plays, ending with a 1-yard dive by Smith into the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 5:25 on the clock.
Troy would turn Central Mountain over on downs on their first possession, then went 34-yards in two plays to pay dirt on a 28-yard run from Smith. A Wildcat pass interference call to open the drive set up the score as Troy led 14-0 with 2:49 on the clock.
Central found their offense in the next drive going 60-yards on 10 plays to get into the end zone, ending on a McDermott 9-yard touchdown run on third down. The key play was a 15-yard run out of Gavin Heverly on fourth down to keep the drive alive.
Mycah Carson hit the point after and it was 14-7 with 11:11 left in the opening half.
The Trojans responded quickly, going 81-yards on just five plays, which ended on a 42-yard hook-up from Smith to Palmer on a play action roll out. After Lykon-Leffler’s kick it was 21-7 with 8:26 left in the quarter.
The Wildcats needed just one play to respond as Everett found Masorti for a 59-yard scoring pass play. Troy blocked the extra point but it was a one score game with 8:06 on the clock.
Troy showed they could score with big plays, too, as their ensuing drive went 63-yards in just three plays - a 20-yard Smith run, a 31-yard pass from Smith to Teribury, and then an 11-yard Smith scamper - to hit pay dirt for a 28-13 lead with 6:11 left in the half.
Central Mountain took much of the rest of the quarter on their ensuing drive, one that got down to the Troy 5-yard line.
However, negative runs and penalties backed them up to the 14 and they settled for a 31-yard Carson field goal to make it 28-16 at the half.
Coming out in the second half Troy found their best defense was using the onside kick, recovering two straight to start the third.
The first possession of the half saw them start at the Wildcat 48-yard line and then used nine plays to get into the end zone, ending with a 4-yard pass from Smith to Palmer to make it 35-16 with 8:05 on the clock.
After recovering the next onside kick Troy started at their own 47-yard line and need eight plays to go 53-yards into the end zone.
Central Mountain looked like they were going to get a goal-line stop but on 4th-and-1 at the two Smith hit Palmer for their third scoring hook-up of the day for a 42-16 lead with 4:03 on the clock.
Troy kicked it deep this time and may have wished they didn’t as Heverly got a running start and didn’t stop, returning the boot 76-yards to pay dirt, with Carson’s kick making it 42-23 with 3:49 left in the third.
The next Trojan possession started at their own 28-yard line as they used seven plays to get into the end zone. Things started with a 36-yard Smith run, and ended on a 1-yard Kutt punch for a 49-23 lead with 1:06 left in the frame.
The ensuing Wildcat drive fizzled out at midfield as Troy turned them over on downs.
Taking over at the Central 44-yard line two Wildcat penalties on the first play from scrimmage put Troy all the way down to the 14. A block-in-back penalty moved them back to the 18, but it didn’t matter as two plays later Smith scrambled his way 11-yards into the end zone for another touchdown.
Lykon-Leffler’s kick made it 56-23 with 9:28 left in the game.
Central showed no quit on their next drive, going 54-yards on five plays as Everett found Serafini for an 8-yard scoring strike. Troy blocked the extra point as it was 56-29 with 7:37 left to play.
The final two Troy touchdowns were a 26-yard Smith run with 5:46 left, and a 15-yard Millard run down the left side of the field with 2:49 to play.
With this win behind them Troy will now focus on Canton as they look to retain the Old Shoe.
“It’s rivalry week, anything can happen the Old Shoe week,” Smith said. “It’s always a big deal. Canton is a young team, and they’ve had a string of really bad injuries. They’re gutting things out, but they’ve had some good things with them getting a lot of young kids varsity experience, and that’ll pay dividends for them in the future.”
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TROY 70, CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 29
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
T: Mason Smith 1-yard run (Gavin Lykon-Leffler kick), 5:25
T: Mason Smith 28-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 2:49
Second Quarter
C: Dalton McDermott 9-yard run (Mycah Carson kick), 11:11
T: Mason Smith 42-yard pass to Reed Palmer (Lykon-Leffler), 8:26
C: Kyle Everett 59-yard pass to Mason Masorti (kick blocked), 8:06
T: Mason Smith 11-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 6:11
C: Mycah Carson 31-yard field goal, :25.3
Third Quarter
T: Mason Smith 4-yard pass to Reed Palmer (Lykon-Leffler), 8:05
T: Mason Smith 2-yard pass to Reed Palmer (Lykon-Leffler), 4:03
C: Gavin Heverly 76-yard kick-off return (Carson), 3:49
T: Jayden Kutt 1-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 1:06
Fourth Quarter
T: Mason Smith 11-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 9:28
C: Kyle Everett 8-yard pass to Mario Serafini (kick blocked), 7:37
T: Mason Smith 26-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 5:46
T: Kael Millard 15-yard run (Lykon-Leffler), 2:49
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Central Mountain
Rushing
Dalton McDermott (24) 18-97-1, Kyle Everett (9) 11-47, Mario Serafini (1) 3-(-2), Gavin Heverly 1-15, Jagger Pardoe 2-8, Hayes Donley 1-22, Team 1-(-2)
Passing
Kyle Everett 7-14-130-2-0
Receiving
Mario Serafini 3-55-2, Marson Masorti 2-63-1, Dalton McDemott 2-12
Troy
Rushing
Mason Smith 19-210-5, Kael Millard 15-68-1, Jayden Kutt 13-80-1, Josiah Pesesky 1-7, Spencer Martin 2-7
Passing
Mason Smith 6-8-145-3-0
Receiving
Reed Palmer 3-48-3, Trey Teribury 3-87
TEAM STATS CM TROY
Rushes/Yards 37/192 49/360
Passing Yards 130 145
First Downs 16 23
Penalties/Yards 12/141 3/30
Fumbles/Lost 3/2 2/0
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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