| Troy Triad Knights |
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Mike Menozzi JolietCatholicFootball.com
Gas up the car
Well . . . the playoff pairings are out and the second season is upon us. Waiting for the season to begin after a long summer is a great experience. When the second season begins, playoff time, the regular season is behind you. All the ups and downs experienced during the season have hopefully provided a growing and learning experience in preparation for a playoff run. A clean slate, waiting to determine what class you’ll be in, what bracket, who the opening opponent is, if you’ll be at home or traveling in round one.
That time is here, and Joliet Catholic is in 5A as was predicted by most of those in the media, due to the influx of larger Chicago public schools which has forced JCA into 5A.
More importantly JCA is in the southern bracket of 16 which means teams are going to be traveling since we’re the most northern of the southern bracket that includes teams from as far south as Carbondale and Marion (a stones throw from Tennessee if you have a good arm).
If you have a frequent flyer card for gas, this will be a good time to put it to use. A couple of 8-10 hour round trip drives may be in the works.
As a player, getting ready to play after a five hour Bluebird bus ride can be difficult at best. Traveling teams, especially those covering long distances are at a disadvantage. It’s hard to get off the bus ready to play, the home team takes advantage, jumps to a lead and never looks back.
From a fans point of view there’s nothing I like better than traveling to towns - especially those in the middle/south of the state - for a high school football game. Driving into town, experiencing the support for their team, banners and colors hung from every light pole and local gas station. Entering their well groomed football stadiums, ready for the day’s big event. In some cases the clash between hometown hopeful and the invading visitors may be the biggest thing they talk about for months to come. In every case, win or lose, the hospitality shown in each town I’ve visited has been outstanding. Get there early, talk football with the locals, find a good place to eat afterward.
To start the fun, #11 seed Troy makes a 4 1/2 hour trip to Joliet to face the #6 seed Hilltoppers this weekend.
What do we know about Troy?
Well, Troy is in Madison County, situated between Collinsville, and Edwardsville, they play in the Mississippi Valley conference. Others in the conference are Mascoutah, Waterloo, Jerseyville, Highland, and Bethalto.
The Knights finished 5-0 in the conference, 7-2 overall with 35 playoff points. About an average number of playoff points. Playoff points remember, indicate the cumulative number of wins of your opponents. It can sometimes, but not always, be an indicator of the quality of teams that you’ve played.
They scored 237 points (26.3 ppg) and allowed 161 (17.8 ppg).
Notable games, they lost to Belleville Altoff (6-3) and Mt. Vernon (2-7), they did beat Chatham (7-2) by a point to open the season. Defensively they consistently gave up a lot of points until game 7. From that point forward they allowed 12 points and 2 shutouts. Is it a scheduling coincidence? Impact player return from injury? Or maybe a defensive scheme adjustment.
Massey rating are 97, schedule 160. offense 119, defense 114, power 113
The school song and they are good dancers as well. There’s another video available of still photos if you search for the Triad Football Legacy.
MaxPreps lists them as #78 in the state, there are some photos of the Jersey game as well, and a write up
Their roster can be found here
For the Troy fans that make the trip to Joliet, welcome. Take I-55 north to route 52 east. The stadium will be on your right after a few miles drive, visitor parking is typically on the east side of the stadium.
Good luck to both teams.
More on the Hilltoppers, and the rest of 5A shortly.
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on the field of battle . . . victorious."
Vince Lombardi
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