Big game for Free lifts Troy over Arkansas State

Brantley native Jacob Free earned his first career start at quarterback for the Troy Trojans (4-2, 2-1) on Oct. 31 and threw for the seventh most yards in school history as the Trojans picked up a 38-10 win over the Arkansas State Red Wolves (3-4, 1-3) on the road.

Free completed 33-of-45 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions as the junior started over injured quarterback Gunnar Watson.

Free threw his first touchdown of the day on a 29-yard pass to Luke Whittemore early in the first quarter and then threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Todd later in the opening period.

Arkansas State earned a 39-yard field goal to cut Troy’s lead to 14-3 early in the second quarter, but Troy kicker Evan Legassey booted his own 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-3 with 7:07 left in the half.

With 41 seconds remaining in the first half, Free showed off his footwork with a 6-yard touchdown run to give the Trojans a 24-3 lead at halftime.

Arkansas State cut the lead to 24-10 in the third quarter after quarterback Layne Hatcher threw the Wolves’ only touchdown of the game, a 3-yard pass to Jonathan Adams.

Troy’s Darrell Starling returned a fumble for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and running back Kimani Vidal scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with less than 30 seconds remaining to give the Trojans the 38-10 win.

Vidal led the Trojan running game with 58 yards on 17 carries, while he also caught eight passes for 77 yards. Kaylon Geiger caught eight passes for 126 yards and Tray Eafford caught seven passes for 85 yards and Todd caught three passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.

The Trojan defense held one of the top scoring offenses in the entire country to just 10 points and 379 total yards, more than 100 yards less than the Wolves average per game.

Jayden McDonald led the Troy defense with eight tackles and a pass breakup, while All-American Carlton Martial recorded seven tackles, one tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup.

“I am really proud of our guys for showing up on the road,” Troy coach Chip Lindsey said. “Any time you can win on the road in this league, it is a big win.

“I am really proud of the way that our guys showed up for practice this past week. They put their head down and were ready to go to work and correct mistakes. We aren’t perfect yet, but I really like the direction that we are heading. It was a total team win. When you hold that team to 10 points it is really impressive.”

Troy hits the road again this week to face Georgia Southern at noon on ESPN3 on Nov. 7.