Troup shocks Raiders

NEW LONDON — It's likely few saw this coming.

The Troup Tigers, apparently propelled by the desire to make the Class 2A playoffs, stunned the West Rusk High School Raiders at Raider Stadium here on Friday night, leaving with a 20-14 win and handing the previously unbeaten Raiders their first loss of the season.

West Rusk is now 8-1 overall, 3-1 in District 19-2A as the Raiders face probably their biggest challenge of the season to date in the regular-season finale on Friday: a trip to Arp to face the state's No. 1 team.

Arp defeated Elkhart easily on Friday night, winning 48-0, so a win by West Rusk over coach John Frazier's former school, Troup, would have set up a match-up of undefeated teams in Arp next week.

Troup did everything in its power to ensure that one of those teams would have a loss before they got there.

Troup went up 20-0, including scoring on its opening possession and then scoring to culminate a 99-yard drive, before the Raiders were able to score. And turnovers just killed the Raiders when they did have opportunities. They fumbled the ball away to Troup twice Friday inside the Troup 10-yard-line.

Troup began the scoring early, taking the opening kickoff and then finishing the drive with points when Jeremy Ware scored on a 1-yard run. The point after was missed.

Troup held West Rusk on its initial possession, and when WR punted the ball, it was a good one — the Raiders downed it at the Troup 1.

As things turned out, it didn't matter. Troup quarterback Ryan Nichols and running back Derrick Thompson hooked up for a pass play that went 53 yards, with Thompson scoring at its end. With Thompson's twopoint conversion run, Troup led 14-0.

The Raiders looked like the Raiders in the second quarter, marching down to the Troup 9, but a fumble proved very, very costly — Nichols, playing in the secondary, scooped it up and returned it 91 yards for the score, giving Troup a 20-0 lead.

West Rusk did get on the scoreboard before the half, a 12- yard run by quarterback Josh Medford with 24 seconds left. Sam Arvizu's kick was good, and West Rusk trailed 20-7, the eventual half score.

The Raiders got even closer on their first possession of the second half when Jorge Barrios scored on an 8-yard run. The point after was good again by Arvizu, and WR trailed just 20- 14.

But both defenses stiffened, and while the Raiders had their chances, it just wouldn't happen Friday. With what looked to surely be the go-ahead score, West Rusk fumbled the ball at Troup's 2-yard-line, and the Tigers recovered.

West Rusk would get the ball back once more and get as far as the Troup 8, but the clock ran out.

Medford finished with 144 yards and the score on 14 carries, and Daniel Thompson, West Rusk's tailback who came in with over 1,400 yards rushing, had 121 yards. Josh Patin had 41 yards on five carries. Santos Gonzalez had 40 yards on six carries and Barrios had 10 yards on two carries, and the touchdown.