Troy Dominates West Bloomfield on the Ground in 42-13 Game

The score: Troy 42, West Bloomfield 13

The star: In the first half, Troy senior running back Oliver Jiang rushed for two touchdowns off of 64- and 66-yard runs and finished with 221 yards rushing overall.

The turning point: On 3rd-and-18, with the ball deep in its own territory and its lead in single digits, Troy tricked West Bloomfield's defense with a backfield pitch to backup quarterback Jay Darish, who stopped and flung the ball to wide-open wide receiver Derek Verbruggen, who scored from 75 yards out. The touchdown put the Colts ahead, 35-13, with 3:26 left in the third quarter, and squashed the Lakers' hopes of a comeback at home.

The quote: "Tonight, our offensive line was knocking people off the ball. (West Bloomfield) were bringing a lot of pressure. We were fortunate to block our gaps and there was a crease and Oliver was getting through it." — Troy head coach Gary Griffith.

What’s next? West Bloomfield will search for that elusive third win on the road against Troy Athens Sept. 30, while Troy will welcome defending state champion Lake Orion to town that same night.

Bottom line: A week after a tough loss against an emotionally-charged Clarkston team, Troy came out with a big win of their own against a worn out West Bloomfield team which looked overmatched. As the Lakers now face a very difficult path to the playoffs, Troy has momentum going into a game next week against Lake Orion.

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Troy High School's varsity football team made a statement to the rest of the Oakland Activities Association Red Division with Friday night's win that it is better than its' middle-of-the-pack record suggests.

, on the other hand, has a lot of work to do before it can be included in that pack.

The Colts crushed West Bloomfield by a score of 42-13 to bring its' overall record to 3-2 (2-1 OAA Red). The win came on the strength of a strong rushing attack, paced by senior running back Oliver Jiang. The Colts finished with 396 yards rushing overall, with Jiang accounting for 221 yards (153 in the first half) and two touchdowns.

Troy head coach Gary Griffith called the game a "showdown" between two teams hunting for six wins overall in order to qualify for the playoffs. Griffith couldn't hide his relief that Troy was able to bounce back after a the week prior, as well as build momentum for a game next week at home against defending state champion Lake Orion.

"We were both 2-2 coming into this game, and we knew that the loser wouldn't have much room for error for the rest of the season," Griffith said. "This will give us a little confidence for (Lake Orion)."

The Colts have every reason to feel confident after showing off a strong offense and defense on the road against the Lakers (2-3, 1-2 OAA Red). Two of the first three offensive possessions of the game for West Bloomfield ended with an interception by Colts senior Davion Rice and a punt from the Lakers' own 2-yard-line. The Colts fielded the punt at the West Bloomfield 29-yard-line and scored five plays later with a run from senior captain Matt Oppenlander.

"Obviously, we've been working hard on our pass defense. Sometimes, (Byrd) just didn't have time to throw and sometimes, we didn't give him a place to throw it," said Griffith. "On offense, if our offensive line gets a push, we're pretty formidable. We didn't get that against Clarkston but we got it tonight."

Troy continued to punish West Bloomfield in the second quarter when Jiang ran through a hole in the middle from his own 34-yard-line to give the Colts a 14-6 lead. After a Lakers' three-and-out, Jiang took the ball up the middle on the ensuing possession for a 64-yard touchdown run to bring the lead to 21-6.

The two touchdown runs left West Bloomfield head coach Ron Bellamy angry afterwards. "Our defense is extremely young and they haven’t played a lot of football, so we have to overcome mistakes. We let teams get touchdowns. Until we figure it out, we’ll be at the bottom of the pack of the OAA Red," he said.

The Lakers were able to mount a rebuttal on the ensuing possession with the strength of a yeoman effort by senior running back Jalen Campbell, who led all backs with 61 yards on 17 carries. After six straight plays going right to Campbell, Byrd faked a handoff to him and let loose a touchdown pass to senior Thelmon Stuckey with 1:22 left in the first half.

However, hope did not last long after halftime. On 3rd-and-18, with the ball deep in its own territory and its lead in single digits, Troy tricked West Bloomfield's defense with a backfield pitch to backup quarterback Jay Darish, who stopped and flung the ball to wide-open wide receiver Derek Verbruggen, who scored from 75 yards out. The touchdown put the Colts ahead, 35-13, with 3:26 left in the third quarter, and squashed the Lakers' hopes of a comeback at home.

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Troy 42, West Bloomfield 13

THS – 0 21 14 7 - 42

WBHS – 6 7 0 0 – 13

WBHS: Campbell 6 run (Genrich miss)

THS: Oppenlander 4 run (Murphy kick)

THS: Jiang 66 run (Murphy kick)

THS: Jiang 64 run (Murphy kick)

WBHS: Byrd 19 pass to Stuckey (Genrich kick)

THS: Losey 1 run (Murphy kick)

THS: Darish 75 pass to Verbruggen (Murphy kick)

THS: Oppenlander 4 run (Murphy kick)

RUSHING:

THS: Jiang 17-221, Oppenlander 11-91, Losey 8-42, Darish 3-4, Parker 5-32. Totals: 44-396. WBHS: Byrd 6-22, Brathwaite 5-12, Campbell 17-61, Elliott 1-18. Totals: 29-113. Totals: 27-155.

PASSING:

THS: Losey 0-2-0-0, Darish 1-1-75-0. Totals: 1-3-75-0. WBHS: Byrd 10-22-88-1.

RECEIVING:

THS: Verbruggen 1-75. WBHS: Stuckey 4-39, Laporte 2-24, Hardrick 2-5, Campbell 1-12, Brathwaite 1-8. Totals: 10-88.

PENALTIES:

THS: 5-57. WBHS: 6-70.

RECORDS:

THS: 3-2 (2-1 OAA Red). WBHS: 2-3 (1-2 OAA Red).