Arkansas State suffers 38-10 loss against Troy
Arkansas State suffered a 38-10 home loss to the Troy Trojans Saturday afternoon at Centennial Bank Stadium, making it back-to-back conference game losses for the Red Wolves..
“I’m very frustrated and very disappointed,” said A-State head football coach Blake Anderson. “I felt like with the energy we had all week and how physical and competitive practices were that we would play much better, but we’re really struggling to get that from the practice field and meeting rooms to the playing surface. We’ve had times where guys had tough matchups, but I thought this week our matchups were way better. We’re capable of playing much better than we did, and that’s where the frustration comes in. I’m really proud of how the defense played in the second half, with the exception of the touchdown at the end. That’s something to build on, but that’s two weeks in a row, offensively, that we had too many empty possessions. We have to continue to learn and improve, that’s really the only answer.”
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The Trojans jumped out to a 24-3 halftime lead in a game that saw struggles in all three phases of the game for the Red Wolves.
The Trojans struck first blood with 12:35 remaining in the first quarter on a 29-yard pass from Jacob Free to Luke Whittemore. Evan Legassey’s PAT gave the Trojans the 7-0 lead.
With 5:39 left in the opening quarter the Trojans took a 14-0 lead on a 34-yard pass from Free to a wide open Reggie Todd.
The Red Wolves defense was able to hold on a goal line stand with 13:45 left in the first half, then was able to march the field and score on a 39-yard field goal by Blake Grupe with 9:10 remaining in the half.
Troy answered with a 35-yard field goal by Legassey with 7:07 remaining in the half, then went on an 8-play, 64-yard drive after blocking a Grupe field goal with 2:28 remaining in the half to score on a 6-yard keeper by Free with 41 seconds remaining in the first half to go up 24-3.
The Trojans put up 350 yards of offense, to include 318 through the air in the first half, compared to 177 yards of offense for the Red Wolves.
Additionally, the Trojans averaged 15.9 yards per reception and 7.8 yards per play in the first half, compared to 7.4 yards per completion and 4.4 yards per play for the Red Wolves.
The Red Wolves were able to get more pressure defensively in the second half, forcing several quarterback sacks. Additionally, Layne Hatcher was able to lead the Red Wolves on a 5-play, 90-yard drive that was capped off by a three-yard pass from Hatcher to Jay Adams with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter.
The Red Wolves had other opportunities to close the game in the game, but were unable to get much more going offensively while Troy poured on 14 additional points in the final quarter to seal the deal.
Lincoln Pare was A-State’s leading rusher, racking up 90 yards on just 12 attempts for a 7.5-yard average. Kimani Vidal led Troy in rushing with 58 yards on 17 rushes and a touchdown.
Defensively, Justin Rice was the game’s top tackler with 14 tackles and three tackles for loss, including two sacks. Troy was led by Jayden McDonald’s eight tackles.
Troy outgained A-State 487 to 379, including 419 yards through the air while A-State countered with 271 passing yards and 108 rushing.
The Red Wolves’ quarterback duo of Logan Bonner and Layne Hatcher completed 28 of 49 passes, with Hatcher going 11-of-20 for 166 yards and a touchdown.
Arkansas State returns to the field next Saturday at Louisiana. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. on ESPNU.
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