Troy drops big conference game to Coastal Carolina

With first place in the Sun Belt’s East Division on the line, the Troy Trojans couldn’t manage to complete a comeback attempt against the No. 24-ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on the road on Thursday, Oct. 28, and eventually fell 35-28.

The game, which was nationally televised on ESPN2, saw a number of momentum shifts including 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Trojans.

Troy jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter when Gunnar Watson found tight end Deyunkrea Lewis for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 12:04 left in the opening period. After the Trojan defense forced a quick three-and-out, Troy looked poised to extend that lead as Watson marched Troy right back into Coastal Carolina’s red zone.

Penalties pushed Troy back far enough that the Trojans decided to punt rather than attempt a long field goal because of the stiff rain and win that plagued the game.

The Chanticleers then tied the score on a 2-yard touchdown run from quarterback Grayson McCall with just 1:34 left in the first quarter.

Coastal then capitalized on a quick Troy three-and-out as McCall connected with Jaivon Heiligh for a 66-yard touchdown pass to put the Chanticleers ahead 14-7 with 14:05 left in the first half.

As the Troy offense continued to bog down – plagued by penalties and mistakes – Coastal took advantage with a 71-yard scoring pass from McCall to Braydon Bennett to go up 21-7 over the Trojans with 7:57 left in the first half.

Troy answered, however, with Watson finding Dothan native Jabre Barber on a 42-yard scoring strike with 5:48 left in the half. Coastal drove into Troy territory late in the half and seemed poised to extend its lead again but Troy cornerback Reddy Steward intercepted a McCall pass to leave the score 21-14 in Coastal’s favor at halftime.

Coastal opened the scoring in the second half with a Shermari Jones 4-yard touchdown run to extend the Chanticleer lead to 28-14 with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter, though. McCall seemed to suffer a head injury during the drive that led to him vomiting on the field, though he would return later. Coastal coach Jamey Chadwell confirmed after the game that McCall had been “hit pretty hard in the stomach” on the play and did not suffer a concussion.

Troy’s Kimani Vidal took over on its next possession gaining 71 yards on seven carries on the drive, including a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the Coastal lead to 28-21 with 2:26 left in the third quarter.

Coastal answered yet again, however, as Jones raced 54 yards for a Chanticleer touchdown with 11:23 to go in the game to give Coastal a 35-21 lead.

Troy answered with 4:52 left in the game on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Tez Johnson that cut the Coastal lead to 35-28. The Troy defense seemed to have forced a quick three-and-out as Carlton Martial stuffed Jones for no gain on third-and-four. Coastal, however, fooled the Trojans and gained 12 yards on a fake punt on fourth down.

“It was a great call on their part, faking the punt in that instance,” Troy coach Chip Lindsey said. “We had a guy there to make the play, but he didn’t make it. Takes some guts to make that call there, but give them credit; they did. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the tackle and they converted.”

The Chanticleers then managed to run the clock all the way down to 25 seconds before finally being forced to punt. Troy got the ball back with 25 seconds left – and no timeouts – and Watson was sacked on first down running the clock out and securing the 35-28 Chanticleer win.

As back breaking as the fake punt was, Lindsey pointed to the explosive plays that Coastal hit as being the true difference in the game.

“The explosive plays were the difference,” he emphasized. “They did a great job of making some plays when they had opportunities down the field.

“College football these days is about explosive plays. You’ve got to give them credit for that. But even with all that, we had plenty of opportunities. We didn’t finish some drives, especially in the first half, and that cost us.”

Coastal gained 191 yards on three big scoring plays in the game and put up an eye-popping 510 yards on one of the nation’s top defenses in the country. The Troy offense managed to total 389 yards with a balanced attack that included 164 yards on the ground and 225 yards through the air. Both teams turned it over once.

Despite being banged up, McCall led the Chanticleers with 294 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-26 passing along with 59 yards and a touchdown rushing, while Jones added 95 yards on 14 carries.

Watson led Troy with 225 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-30 passing, while Vidal rushed for 142 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Johnson led Troy receivers with four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown and Barber added three catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.

Carlton Martial become the Sun Belt’s all-time leading tackler as he amassed 14 tackles in the loss. KJ Robertson also totaled six tackles and 1/2 a sack, while Javon Solomon also had three tackles and 1/2 a sack.

Troy is back at home this Saturday, Nov. 6, against rival South Alabama in the Battle for the Belt at 2:30 p.m. The Troy men’s and women’s basketball teams will also host Fan Day at Tailgate Terrace outside of Veteran’s Memorial Stadium beginning at 12:30 p.m. before the game. Fans will have the opportunity to take pictures with the team and get a 2021-2022 season poster signed.