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Troy holds off Wellsboro late

WELLSBORO — The chain gang was immediately called over. They lumbered their way 160 feet across the rain-soaked turf. With each step, Wellsboro players became more convinced that it was their ball while their fans stayed silent. Troy had no doubt it was theirs. Wellsboro players were pointing north and Troy was pointing south and it all came down to a few chain links.

Holding a six-point lead with 64 seconds remaining and facing a fourth-and-8 from Wellsboro’s 36-yard line, the Trojans decided to go for it and they got the necessary yardage needed, barely, to hold off a furious Wellsboro comeback and hold on for the 38-32 win Friday night in the District 4 Class AA quarterfinals.

Troy, which moves on to play Southern Columbia next week, kneeled out the final 60 seconds and held off a Wellsboro rally that saw it come back from two 17-point deficits. The Green Hornets (8-3) struggled without 1,600 yard rusher Aidan Hauser as they had seven turnovers, including five in the first half. Troy took advantage and ran for 315 yards, including 203 in the first half.

“They’ve been fighters all year and they put themselves in situations where they had to fight but they couldn’t really get out of every single one of them and tonight was another one of those,” Wellsboro coach Matt Hildebrand said. “We turned the ball over seven times so if you turn the ball over seven times, you’re going to make it hard on yourself and its going to be an uphill battle. Troy’s a good football team and we knew they were going to battle and be physical. When the rain came, it obviously played a little bit more to their game than it did ours. Once we were down, it was tough to move the ball.”

After getting within one-score for the first time since the second quarter on Robert Brown’s fourth rushing touchdown, Wellsboro needed a stop if it was going to have another unreal second-half comeback. The Green Hornets decided to go for the onside kick and they executed it to perfection and got a good bounce, but were unable to handle the loose ball. Troy grabbed it and returned it inside Wellsboro’s 45 with under two minutes remaining. Troy got five yards on its first two carries before Robert Brown stuffed it on third-and-3 to force fourth down. A false start backed Troy up to fourth-and-8, but it didn’t matter.

Like it has all season, Wellsboro fought. It didn’t give up when Troy scored 14 points in 15 seconds after it fumbled on back-to-back plays. The Green Hornets faced an uphill climb all night but fought until the very end.

“We’ve been in this situation before. The guys all looked at each other and said this isn’t the time to panic. We’ve been here before,” Hildebrand said. “How we responded out of halftime, I’m really happy with that. Coming out and getting a score right out of halftime. That’s what we needed to do. The guys responded, they fought, but unfortunately we came up short tonight.”

Despite missing its leading rusher and main offensive weapon in Hauser, the Green Hornets managed to still score 30-plus points for the seventh time this season. Freshman quarterback Isaac Keane showed his improvement with a career-high 234 yards and 15 completions. Despite some turnovers, Keane showed up in a big-time game and in a pouring down rain as he made big throws and led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Tanner Button capped a great season with 102 receiving yards and Hunter and Robert Brown, both linemen, turned into offensive skill players with Hauser out. Hunter, usually No. 66, changed his number to a more offensive friendly 16 as he caught four balls for 73 yards and a 27 yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter on fourth-and-17. Hunter lined up at tight end and made an impact on both sides of the ball in his final game, as did Robert. The senior lineman ran for four rushing touchdowns and completed a 12-yard pass. He would’ve had a 20-yard touchdown pass if not for a drop in the end zone. Robert also had 11 tackles as the duo capped a spectacular four-year run as offensive pavers and defensive wreckers.

“Those guys, they were in some other positions as far as offensive line and defensive line throughout most of their careers. If we were a bigger school they probably wouldn’t be at those same positions. They’re athletic and they can do a lot of things, as you saw tonight. When you lose a 1,600 yard rusher on the year, that’s a big chunk of your offense when you have a young freshman quarterback, you have to get creative,” Hildebrand said. “I thought they did a great job tonight carrying some of that offensive load for us. Both of them did. I’m really proud of what they’ve done the last four years. Those four seniors, as well as the rest of them, they played their hearts out tonight and they fought. You can’t fault them for that.”

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