Troy running back Asher Merritt picks up tough yards and a first down during action in Friday’s win over Hilliard Bradley. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
#2-seed Troy withstood a blown lead the the second half to stage a late comeback and redeem a less-than-satisfactory 2024 with a 23-22 Division I playoff win over visiting Hilliard Bradley.
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros Magazine
Troy, OH — The Troy High School football team entered the 2025 season in search of redemption.
A 6-5 season a year ago had left a bad taste in their mouths, and they were determined to show Trojan football glory was not a thing of the past.
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The Trojans (9-2) didn’t accomplish all their goals — falling short of an MVL title with a loss at Tippecanoe in Week 9 — but they picked up something perhaps more elusive Friday night: A Division I playoff win.
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After blowing a nine-point second half lead, the second-seeded Trojans (9-2) rallied to beat No. 7 Hilliard Bradley 23-22 at Memorial Stadium to advance in their first season back in Division I after a two-year-long tenure in Division II.
“I think it feels great,” senior safety/running back Aidan Gorman said. “You know, moving up the Division I, we didn’t know what to expect because we’re going to play bigger schools.”
They won two games in the Division II playoffs two years ago but fell flat in the first round against Harrison last season, adding motivation for this fall.
“We knew we could get back there, and winning just feels great,” Gorman said. “You know, one more week at least to put on the pads. One more week guaranteed to continue the career.”
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This was no easy task. Bradley traveled west from the Columbus suburbs with a young squad hungry for an upset, and coach Mike LoParo’s squad nearly pulled it.
The Jaguars (6-6) scored twice in the fourth quarter to turn a 16-7 deficit into a 22-16 lead with less than four minutes to go.
Troy’s Aiden Kirkpatrick’s touchdown gave the Trojans’ a comfortable 16-7 lead.
Sophomore quarterback Owen Risner, a surprise starter after missing the previous five games because of injury, shook off three interceptions to lead a pair of scoring drives.
The first ended with Tre Pauleaus hauling in a 26-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the second ended with a 33-yard run by freshman fullback Trent Dudley, who caught the Trojan defense overplaying and went in untouched on a counter play.
“Everyone been keying on (tailback Rashaud) Truss and trying to tee off on him, we handed it to the freshman, and he rips it for a home run,” LoParo said.
The situation seemed dire for the hosts, whose offense had ground to a halt when Bradley went to a 50 front Bear defense with eight men in the box to stop Troy’s Wing-T offense in the third quarter after giving up 147 yards rushing in the first half.
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That had the desired effect, though Kirkpatrick kept what looked like it could be Troy’s last drive alive by barely picking up enough inches to convert a fourth-and-1 at the Troy 32 with 6:43 to go.
One play later, fortunes shifted quickly as he dropped to pass and found tight end Michael Tucker deep down the middle behind the Bradley defense. The pass was underthrown so he had to come back for it, but Tucker was able to snag it and rumble to the Bradley 17 before being taken down.
Troy’s Kayden Franklin breaks an arm tackle attempt to gain extra yards and a first down.
“You just got to focus on it and not worry about the defender, but mainly bring the ball in,” Tucker said. “You’ve just got to lock in and trust in your team and just step up when they need you to, and I think I did a good job at that.”
Three plays after that, Kirkpatrick called Tucker’s number again, this time giving him the ball on a read play around left end. Tucker eluded two Jaguars who ran into each other, and found his way into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown that tied the game at 22.
That set up Matt Barth, Troy’s big-legged kicker who just missed a 47-yard field goal at the end of the first half (it went just outside the left upright but had plenty of distance), to knock through the extra point to give the Trojans the lead with 3:41 to go.
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Bradley ended up getting two more possessions, but both ended in turnovers, their fourth and fifth of the night.
First Troy cornerback Jayden Atkins snagged a pass intended for Jaxon Naegel on a double-move near midfield, but but Troy was unable to run out the clock, forcing Kirkpatrick to punt it back with 51 seconds left.
His kick took a Troy hop inside the 5, forcing Caden Faab to have to field it when it did not go into the end zone. He was mobbed by the coverage team, leaving the Jaguars to start at their own 2 with 39 seconds left.
That possession ended quickly, too, as Gorman ripped the ball away from a Bradley receiver and Troy recovered at the 10 with only 33 seconds left. .
“I was honestly just trying to keep him in bounds to keep the clock running because they had no timeouts and my hand just slipped through the ball and caused the fumble,” Gorman said. “I didn’t expect it come out.”
Kirkpatrick, who ran for 103 yards on 25 caries and completed six of six passes for, said the tying touchdown was a read play, one on which he trusted his teammate to get the job done.
Winning extra point…Matt Barth’s extra point gave Troy its last lead, 23-22.
That was a fitting end to a classic game in a season in which Kirkpatrick has done a lot of the heavy lifting for his team and the search for help for him was an off-and-on theme.
“Their end just kind of waited there for me, so I just gave it Tucker and let him make a play,” Kirkpatrick said.
After winning a Division I playoff game for the first time since beating Miamisburg in the first round in 2000, Troy will host No. 6 Wayne next week.
The Warriors beat Findlay 34-10 to improve to 8-4.
“It feels great because last year we lost in the first round, and then we get to come back, and we get to step up and bring along that tradition,” said Tucker, who also had an interception playing defense in the first half. “
Bradley’s season is done, but LoParo told his troops to hold their heads high after going through the postgame handshake line.
Troy coach Troy Everhart likes what he sees as the Trojans pull out a 23-22 Division I playoff win.
In his 16th season at the school that only opened in 2009, he has seen plenty of ups and downs in his career. The Jags, who were in the playoffs for the ninth time and fell to 11-9 in postseason play, made their only state semifinals appearance two years ago then endured a 3-9 campaign in 2024 while starting six freshmen.
This season they battled injuries but still found their way into the playoffs with a lineup featuring those freshmen-turned sophomores and another wave of youngsters behind them already seeing varsity action.
“First and foremost, you can’t turn the ball over five times. I mean, when you do that, it’s hard to win football games,” LoParo said. “And we put ourselves in position to win, and we gave up a throw where we can’t give that up, and we gave it up. And the result’s the result.”
“I’m super proud of our seniors. They were part of that ’23 group. There were several of them that started that year. And then last year, we had the hard reset with being so young, but we played really good football at the end. We beat Springfield in the first round last year, and then this year, we just battled so many injuries, but again, super young, so we got a lot of stuff coming back we’re super excited about.”
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