Troy looking to build on stunning defeat of Trotwood

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The most unlikely Week 1 high school football upset was provided by Troy, which got defensive in a 10-6 defeat of mighty Trotwood-Madison. Following a 2-8 season, that’s a power surge for one of the state’s most ingrained football communities and should bode well for second-year Trojans coach Matt Burgbacher.

How did the Trojans do it? How did Troy limit the Rams, who have strung together six straight state semifinal appearances, and all-world running back Raveion "Shock" Hargrove to six points? It was simple, explained Troy defensive coordinator Charlie Burgbacher, Matt's father.

“It really wasn’t anything brilliant in what was called,” Charlie said. “The brilliance was the way the kids executed. Actually, things were pretty simple. We just tried to keep (Hargrove) in front of us and keep him contained and force him to run somewhere other than where he wanted to run.”

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Troy went old-school in throttling Hargrove, who had the No. 8 all-time best rushing season in Ohio as a sophomore last year with 3,039 yards and 41 touchdowns. The Trojans went with a basic 5-2 defense and employed the same kind of aggressiveness that defined many of Charlie’s teams at Tippecanoe for 25-plus seasons.

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Hargrove scored after Troy lost a fumble on its 14-yard line, meaning the Trojans’ defense essentially pitched a shutout. Troy answered with a 21-yard field goal by Jacob Anderson and quarterback Hayden Kotwica’s game-winning 21-yard touchdown run with seven seconds remaining in the third quarter.

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Several costly penalties also undermined Trotwood and sustained Troy’s only scoring drive. The Rams led in that dreaded category, 9-2. Troy limited Hargrove to 76 yards rushing in 17 carries. Last season he rushed for 321 yards or more in four of the Rams’ final six games.

“It was really fun, because he’s the best and I really wanted to compete against him,” said senior linebacker Mike Murray, who led Troy with 11 tackles. “We just wanted to stop (Hargrove) before he got started.”

Incredibly, Troy has beaten Trotwood in two straight games, including a 21-20 stunner in Week 7 last year when Hargrove didn’t play. That means Matt Burgbacher has been in place with the Trojans for 11 games over two seasons, and has beaten Trotwood twice in that span.

Matt Burgbacher said his phone didn’t stop ringing with congratulation calls and texts through the weekend.

“I can’t use the correct adjective for our defense,” said Matt, shaking his head. “We had our hall of fame banquet on Saturday night and my phone is just buzzing. It’s great, but we’ve got to move on.”

That’s key for the Trojans. Troy beat Chaminade Julienne in the 2015 opener — Matt’s first game as head coach — and dropped the next five. Troy hosts Cincinnati Northwest at 7 p.m. today at Memorial Stadium.

“They knew the challenge that was presented before them,” Matt said. “That’s where we want our program to go. We want to play the best and our kids were ready. Last year we didn’t handle success real well. We had some seniors step up and say come Monday, we’re on to Northwest. That’s really important at this point.”

• Coldwater (1-0) is at Delphos Jefferson (1-0) in the final game of that series. Next season Coldwater will be at Division IV state power Clinton-Massie in an intriguing Week 2 matchup.

Week 1 rushing leaders

• Jared Huelsman, Minster, 30-211, 2 TD’s.

• Ethan Arnett, Dixie, 11-206, 4 TD’s.

• Daniel Davis, Springfield, 20-162, 1 TD.

• Clayton Washington, Dixie, 13-157, 1 TD.

• Allen Schrubb, Piqua, 11-146, 2 TD’s.

Week 1 passing leaders

• Dylan Thobe, Coldwater, 16-23 for 317 yards, 3 TD’s, 0 INT’s.

• Andre Gordon, Sidney, 8-17 for 289 yards, 3 TD’s, 2 INT’s.

• Lew Bowser, Eaton, 19-29 for 249 yards, 2 TD’s, 1 INT.

• Collin Wood, Valley View, 9-17 for 234 yards, 3 TD’s, 0 INT’s.

• Travis Meyer, Anna, 13-22 for 222 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT’s.