Kirkpatrick rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown and threw TD passes to Gorman and Tristan Murray as the Trojans improved to 1-1 and 1-0 in the MVL.
“The plan was just running down their throats. We know our line can handle all of them up front,” Kirkpatrick said. “Just wash them all down, pull our guards around, get downhill and get first downs. We kept moving like last week. I knew we had a nine-minute drive, and so we’ll do that again.”
A long touchdown drive in the third quarter capped by a 22-yard pass from Kirkpatrick to Gorman put the Trojans firmly in control at 21-7. Gorman had 52 yards rushing on the night to go along with the TD catch.
“We saw earlier in the game, we had like a reverse, and we had a touchdown,” Gorman said. “They had no one back there, so then we just ran a wheel again, and I saw number eight caught sit, and I just knew he wasn’t going to catch me as soon as I got past him. So I kind of just said (Kirkpatrick) throw it up. I knew it was a touchdown.”
A field goal by Matt Barth in the fourth quarter gave Troy some breathing room at 24-7.
“Between the 20s, I’m excited about our offense,” said Troy coach Troy Everhart. “You know, we’ve got to do a better job. Last week, the game we lost (28-20 to Middletown), we kicked one because we traded field goals for touchdowns, you know we kind of did the same thing this time ... luckily, three was all we needed to win.”
Xenia (1-1, 0-1) scored a late touchdown on a 9-yard run by Sincere Valdez to make it 24-14, but the Bucs couldn’t get any closer.
“I think for us, we just have to realize that the little things matter and we can’t put ourselves in bad situations against a good football team,” Xenia coach Maurice Harden said. “So we just didn’t get it done tonight, and we allowed some of the mistakes and things like that to kind of haunt us, and that’s what kind of put us in really bad situations.”
The Bucs scored their first touchdown on a 1-yard run from Deaunte White. He finished the night with 132 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Xenia got more into its passing game early, then went back to it later as it tried to get back into the game. Bucs quarterback Gage Stephan finished with 113 yards passing and Shawn Fishwick led all Xenia receivers with 65 yards on five catches.
Troy sealed the deal in the final minute as a Michael Tucker interception ended Xenia’s hopes.
“The defense played outstanding,” Everhart said. “I thought they played lights out, but they played really well last week. Great job by our defensive staff. Great job by our players.”
The Trojans are getting accustomed to quick starts. They scored 13 straight in their opener, and then had a 13-0 lead early in Friday’s game.
“We got a great locker room with great senior leadership and great captains, and it’s been a point of emphasis all offseason,” Everhart said. “If I’m guilty of anything last year, it’s you forget that they’re 16-17 years old, and they really don’t know how to lead. They don’t know how to deal with adversity, you know, because we haven’t taught them that as adults, so we spent a lot of time on that. And even last week, we still thought we were going to win. You know, that’s the beauty of this group right now.”
Both teams will be on the road next Friday in MVL matchups. Troy travels to West Carrollton, while Xenia will play at Vandalia Butler.
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