Troy edges Royal Oak for first win in 23 months
ROYAL OAK » The Troy Colts had every reason to think Friday night’s game against Royal Oak would end in disappointment.
Coming off a 0-9 season will do that to any team.
And considering Royal Oak had just forced a turnover and scored a touchdown to take a seven-point lead moments into the fourth quarter, the writing seemed to be on the wall — once again.
But the Colts decided to write their own script. Coach Chris Frasier’s team converted a pair of fourth quarter turnovers into 10 points, with senior kicker Ryan Peluso’s 27-yard field goal with 1:03 left in the game proving to be the difference in a 20-17 Troy victory.
“I told the boys after the game, ‘I give you all the credit.’ Most teams would have said, ‘We’re down by eight points, we’re out of here. Let’s pack it up. See you next week,’ “Frasier said. “It’s a credit to them that they stuck in there and made the plays when they had to.”
The win was the first for the Colts since Oct. 18 of 2018. The Colts were 0-9 a year ago and did not score a single point until Week 8.
“This win is for those seniors last year, and our seniors this year, that they finally got a chance to experience that feeling,” Frasier said.
Royal Oak looked to have complete control of the game after
sophomore quarterback Hudson Sidle connected with junior Jesse Hoisington for a 20-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Hoisington rose above three defenders and came down with the ball to give his team a 1710 lead.
After the two teams exchanged punts, Troy’s Bret Dickerson intercepted a pass, returning it inside the Royal Oak 10-yard line. With 3:46 left in the game, quarterback Nolan Block converted a 4th and goal from the 22 yard line, hitting sophomore Darius Whiteside II in the end zone. Peluso’s extra point tied the game at 17-17.
On the Ravens’ next possession, Whiteside once again came up big, intercepting a pass and returning it 15 yards and setting up what would be the gamedeciding field goal.
“It feels so good,” Whiteside II said. “I love this team. We really wanted to win this game, get our first win of the season. I wasn’t on varsity last year, but all of us really wanted to get this win.”
Whiteside scored the team’s other touchdown as well, on a 23-yard reception from quarterback Max Stromberg in the third quarter. He also recovered a fumble.
Block finished with 33 rushing yards, collected six tackles on defense and added a sack.
“He’s one of our captains for a reason,” Frasier said.
“I had one of our coaches say, over the headset, ‘(Nolan’s) playing the best game of his life right now.’ He was sticking people, he was playing great on the offense and defense. My coaching mentality is, ‘Players make plays.’ We had our guys make plays for us tonight.”
Senior Jack Matthews led the team with eight tackles, while senior Justin Xiao had three tackles and recovered a fumble.
Royal Oak turned the ball over five times in the game, including twice in the final six minutes.
“You can’t turn the ball over five times,” Royal Oak coach Ray McMann said. “In the second half, we came out of the locker room and got that onside kick, grabbed the momentum, and drove right down the field. But then we didn’t score, we fumbled on the 2. Then (later) we stop them again, drive it all the way down, and fumble on the 3. Two fumbles inside the five, we just can’t do that.”
Mekhi Jenkins (49 yards) and Jayden Hakkany (46) helped the Ravens finish with 98 yards rushing in the game.
Jenkins scored the team’s first touchdown. Senior Charlie Garbowski forced a fumble and senior D’aundre Johnson recovered a fumble in their team’s loss.
“I give a lot of credit to Troy, obviously they stuck in there,” McMann said. “I give both teams credit. We’re young.
“I’m proud of them, but at the end of the day, we didn’t finish the game we needed to.”
Troy will host Walled Lake Central next week, while Royal Oak will travel to Bloomfield Hills.