Troy’s Kayden Franklin scores a Trojan touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to stand off Wayne. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
Troy held Wayne’s speedy offense in check and moved the football slowly but surely to give the Warriors a four-quarter fight. But two turnovers and an 80-yard punt return TD proved too much to overcome, and the Trojans’ season ended in the regional semis.
Troy, OH – The Trojan faithful that packed Troy Memorial Stadium got as much as they could’ve asked for from their offense, and even more than that from their defense. But even as the three-down units dueled Wayne to a draw, the Warriors’ special teams broke the tie. An 82-yard punt return by Ohio State commit Jamier Averette-Brown made the difference in Wayne’s 20-14 victory in the regional semifinals.
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The stat sheet shows it was a tossup. Troy won first downs 17-15. Wayne won total yards 260-242. Penalties provided no separation: 62 yards for Wayne, 72 for Troy. The Trojans controlled third down, 7/10 compared to Wayne’s 3/11. Only two lines gave away the true result: Punt returns, and turnovers.
Alan Brads writes OHSAA sports and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
How many times have you heard a coach say special teams and turnovers decide close games? More than enough if you followed Ohio State under Jim Tressel.
Troy coach Troy Everhart said turning the ball over was the difference in the game.
Troy’s first interception gave away a short field that became an impressive fire drill field goal to give Wayne a two-score lead as the half expired. The second ended the potential game-winning drive.
Two plays aside, QB Aiden Kirkpatrick finished his high school career valiantly, completing all five of his other passes for 46 yards, and rushing for 110 hard-earned yards against a girthy Warrior front line.
“I would die for my brothers, and they would die for me,” Kirkpatrick said.
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He put his money where his mouth is, taking shot after shot for his brothers rushing 25 times for the second week in a row. But big hits did not deter him all season, nor in his swan song. On the year, Kirkpatrick averaged nearly 16 rushes per game and 1.6 rushing TDs per game. He lost just two fumbles.
He’s the leader of a robust senior class, and even after the final whistle vouched for his guys.
Troy quarterback Aiden Kirkpatrick scores for the Trojans in Friday’s Division I semi-final loss to Wayne.
“The offense played great,” Kirkpatrick said. The running backs ran well, the offensive line blocked. There’s just a few moments I want back.”
In his senior campaign, the Trojans finished with a 9-3 record and second place in the MVL.
“We were here two years ago, we were here now,” Everhart said. “We gotta find a way to climb over the hump, but the kids did a great job,”
Wayne will play in its second regional title game in three years. This time it faces top-seeded Middletown.
“It’s a great matchup,” Wayne Coach Roosevelt Mukes said. “They’re a great team, they’re very physical, very disciplined, and they’re gonna play hard.”
Middletown’s semifinal win over Springfield prevented a rematch of the 2023 Region 2 championship game, and instead set up a rematch of a first-round game last year, which the Warriors won 26-20.
“That one’s gonna take everybody,” Averette-Brown said. “It’s gonna be a good game because I know they want revenge. I can’t wait to play them again.”
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The Warriors hope to revert to their default status of airing it out to light up the scoreboard. They led the GWOC in yards and points, largely thanks to a spread offense that forgoes tight ends entirely in favor of a fourth wide receiver. But Troy’s defense made them work harder than they might’ve expected they’d have to.
After an opening drive touchdown for Wayne, the Trojan defense changed tune. Aidan Gorman spent his night running with the speedy Averette-Brown, and held him to five catches for 51 yards, his third-lowest mark of the season.
Wayne’s Jamier Brown scored both Wayne touchdowns in a 20-14 Warrior win.
Troy’s pass rush didn’t get home often, although Ethan Kirkpatrick and Alec Stuchell each sacked Wayne QB Kye Graham in huge moments. And as Graham held the ball, the secondary tracked with the fastest group of wideouts they’d faced all year.
“Defense played great,” Everhart said without hesitation.
After Averette-Brown capped the flashy opening drive with a 12-yard TD, Troy executed perhaps the most ideal Troy football drive of the season. Fourteen plays, 12 runs, 4/4 on third down. Both passes converted long third downs to extend the drive. And after 65 yards, seven minutes and 28 seconds, Kirkpatrick snuck it in from the 1-yard line to tie the game. Shortening the game, limiting possessions, and keeping Wayne’s offense on the other side of the chalk appealed to just about everyone on Troy’s sideline. Everyone except the Spectrum crew waiting for a TV timeout.
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Troy forced a punt, but so did Wayne. A low and wobbly trajectory promised good field position for the Warriors, but an awkward bounce sent it careening past Averette-Brown, the return man. He scooped it up at his own 18-yard line, running backward, with his back to the coverage team.
“My coach told me he wasn’t gonna kick the ball high,” Averette-Brown said. “But the ball juked me a little bit, and then I didn’t expect it to bounce backward that fast. So I’m going to get it, and I look back to make sure I have enough room. But it was too much space.”
Just as the ball juked him, he juked a defender right, cut left, then back right to the sideline and goodbye. 14-7 Wayne in a flash.
Defensive back/running back Isaiah Thompson capitalized on Kirkpatrick’s only truly off-target throw, pulling in an interception to give Wayne a chance to go up two scores. The Trojan defense stood tall in the red zone by making a tackle at the 2-yard line, as far away from Wayne’s bench as they could be, with 19 seconds and running.
Wayne’s field goal unit sprinted on, snapped it with two seconds left, and Jayden Heinrich blasted it through.
“Our special teams coordinator, Coach Price, does a great job with those guys,” Mukes said. “They were already ready for it. We’d prepared for it. So that’s a testament to them, and it was a great job of executing.”
Troy running back Urijiah Browner picks up good yardage in the Trojans’ semi-final loss to Wayne.
That field goal altered the complexion of the second half, especially after Troy’s Kayden Franklin plowed into the end zone from six yards out to cap another lengthy drive featuring third and fourth down conversions. Early in the fourth, the Warriors led by a scrambled field goal.
With 4:33 to go, Heinrich delivered again, nailing a 35-yard field goal to give Wayne a 20-14 lead.
Kirkpatrick, up against both the clock and 2nd & 13, threw a jump ball. Wayne’s Sean Heisle won the battle in the air and picked it off.
A commendable defensive stand forced a Wayne punt with 2:09, but special teams haunted the Trojans one last time. Going all-out for the block, Troy roughed the punter.
Wayne took victory formation, however, due to a boneheaded unsportsmanlike conduct foul on Averette-Brown, the Warriors had to give the ball back to the Trojans with 13 second left. But to no avail.
This deep into the playoffs, games are won in the margins. The 17 seconds in which your field goal team sets up and kicks. The open field tackle at the beginning of a punt return. That’s the knife-edge that players’ careers are riding on in these weeks.
Jubilation outside one locker room and tears outside the other were a reminder that to play one more day is a gift.
“It hurts for it to end this way,” Kirkpatrick said.
And Mukes summed it up well:
“At this point in the season, you’re just blessed to be able to continue to play.”
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