Written by: Will Hoenike
Back in 2010, the Troy Trojans were undefeated state champions. They followed that up by reaching the 1A Division 1 state playoffs in five of the next six years between 2011 and 2016, only winning less than eight games one time.
Since then, the program has struggled to gain forward momentum, missing the playoffs each of the past six seasons and only winning more than three games in a season one time during that stretch.
Second-year head coach Shawn Buchanan’s team won three games last season after back-to-back one-win seasons and perhaps a spark has been lit in the program. The boys’ basketball team followed that up with a 15-win season and the baseball team captured the 1A state championship.
The athletes are there. The ability to succeed is there. Now, the football team will look to keep things moving the right direction.
Buchanan, who is in his second season as the head coach in Troy, has a strong class of juniors looking to step into leading roles after key seniors like Chandler Blazzard and Levi McCully graduated this past spring. Junior quarterback Mahkai Durrett returns after throwing ten touchdown passes as a sophomore and returns pass-catching targets like Connor Wilson and Jackson Marone. Junior Braddok Buchanan, who totaled four touchdowns last season, returns to the team’s backfield and could be joined by freshman Hinder Hurst as the Trojans seek to improve upon its 33-point-per-game average from last season.
Senior Joseph Bendel (42 tackles, 8.5 for loss) and Buchanan (26 tackles, one interception) return to key the team’s defense. Bendel posted a ten-tackle game early in the season against Prairie and also had eight tackles late in the season in a win over Logos.
For Troy to jump up into the top half of the Whitepine League in 2023, the team will need to take care of business early in the season. That’s because the league, as usual, has depth and the Trojans end the season with a three-week run of games against Kamiah, Logos, and Clearwater Valley – three teams expected to be in the running for the league championship. If the Trojans are able to stay healthy and build positive momentum early, they could play themselves into the playoff conversation, which is a place they have not been since 2016.