Sidney’s Isaiah Foster scores on a 13-yard TD pass in the first quarter as Troy’s Noah Miller lunges during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium. The Yellow Jackets lost 44-7.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Sidney’s Eli Biddle brings down Troy’s Logan Ullery during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Sidney’s Ethan New picks up the ball after a snap as Troy’s Devon Strobel tackles him for a safety during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Sidney’s Mitchell Davis attempts to block a Troy extra-point attempt during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Sidney’s Aaron Ward attempts to bring down Troy’s Dakota Manson during a Miami Valley League game on Friday at Troy Memorial Stadium.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
TROY — Sidney put together a good drive in the first quarter to tie Troy but couldn’t keep up the rest of the way on Friday in a Miami Valley League game.
The Yellow Jackets lost their regular-season finale 44-7 at Troy Memorial Stadium and finish 5-5 overall and 5-4 in MVL play, good for a first-place finish in Valley Division standings.
“Obviously we’re not happy with (the result) tonight, but this group of kids has proven themselves to be resilient,” Sidney coach Dave Taynor said. “We still have a long way to go to get to where we want and need to have a great offseason, let the slips and falls during the year motivate us in the offseason.
“But as a group, to fight through what they did throughout the year, and to have (an outright Valley Division title) is one step in that process.”
Sidney qualified for the playoffs. According to unofficial JoeEitel.com projections, the Yellow Jackets look likely to be traveling to Northmont for a Division II, Region 8 first-round playoff game. Official playoff pairings and final computer points rankings will be released by the OHSAA on Sunday.
Sidney and Northmont scrimmaged to cap off the first week of practice; the Thunderbolts (6-4) had previously been Division I before dropping to II this season.
“We’re back to 0-0 tonight. Let’s focus on the playoffs. Look forward to seeing Northmont again,” Taynor said. “… We’ll have to work on scrimmaging another team so we don’t see a team we’ll potentially play in the playoffs again.”
Troy drove and scored on its second possession of the night on a 1-yard TD run by Logan Ullery with 4:48 left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets responded with a big drive. Ethan New completed a 43-yard pass to Mitchell Davis on a third down and later capped the drive with a 14-yard TD pass to Isaiah Foster. Joey Flynn made the extra point to tie it 7-7 with 2:10 left.
But the Trojans dominated the rest of the way. They had 293 yards of offense, the majority of which came on the ground in their wing-T attack.
Dakota Manson ran for 105 yards and two TDs, including a 51-yard run with 1:07 left in the first to give Troy a 14-7 lead.
Devon Strobel scored on a 2-yard run with 6:06 left in the second, and a snap went over New’s head a couple of plays later and resulted in a safety, which pushed the lead to 23-7.
Manson scored on a 30-yard run before halftime, and Strobel broke free on a fake punt and ran 58 yards for a TD with 6:38 left in the third to push the gap to 37-7 and start a running clock. Stobel finished with 87 rushing yards.
Troy’s final TD came when Cameron Stoltz threw a 31-yard TD pass to Aidan Gorman with 1:40 left.
Sidney had 74 yards of offense. New and Tucker Herron combined threw for 107 yards, but thanks to two sacks and six tackles for loss by Troy, the Yellow Jackets finished with negative 33 rushing yards.
“We didn’t play nearly as good as we should have,” Taynor said. “Offensively, we were slipping around. There’s no excuses; you’ve got to adjust to the surface. We didn’t necessarily do that. We couldn’t get our run game going in the middle of the field, which is where we run the ball downhill.”
Troy (9-1) tied with Vandalia-Butler and Tippecanoe for first place in overall MVL standings with 8-1 records.
Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.
