Homecoming week is always a time for celebration in the Land of Troy. Traditions like Character Day, the Hunt for Hensley, and the Buggy Parades culminate on Friday with a pep rally and football game. This year’s celebrations started as usual, but with Hurricane Francine making its way up from the Gulf, the normal Friday night under the lights was bumped up to Thursday night. And like the other traditions, our opponent for the evening was the Chiefs from Sequoyah.
The 1st quarter started slow for the Trojans, with several three-and-outs, short passes not gaining many yards, and runs getting stopped at the line. Some adjustments in the 2nd quarter helped the Trojans find the end zone in the first seconds of the 2nd quarter. Senior QB Alex Pinson connects with Senior Gage Welch for 15 yards, and Welch walks into the endzone. From that point on, the Trojan offense never looked back. Pinson was 4 of 7 in passing on the night for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the air, one a 47-yard bomb to Senior Max Bowman. On the ground, a host of Trojans got into the endzone: Tucker Ross, Logan Alexander, and Gage Welch all put points on the board. Welch had nine carries for 52 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Ross had four for 45 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, the defense held the Chiefs to just 196 total yards on the night. Carter Keberdle had nine tackles, including one for a loss. Sophomore Kobe Johnson and Junior Sean Collison also had fumble recoveries on the night.
We interviewed both Welch and Ross for their thoughts on the big game. Welch said, “As a senior, I definitely felt a lot more pressure… and I definitely took more of it in than I did last year.” Ross added, “they got the goose egg this year, we definitely dominated this game.”
But the moment that most came to see was the crowning of the Trojans’ next homecoming queen. Our candidates this year were Anna Morgan, McKay Hickey, Brylee Edmondson, Sienna Chambers, Lannah Gonzalez, Skylar Gooden, Abby Farris, and Tatum Mull.
With only a couple of votes separating the winner from second place, Lannah Gonzalez took home the crown. Lannah was escorted down the field by her father, Jonathan Gonzalez. Lannah says she is “very grateful and appreciative” for being crowned the Homecoming Queen of 2024. When asked how she felt in the moment of her name being called, Lannah said, “I was very shocked and my dad and I both cried, I was not expecting it. It was a very proud moment for the both of us and everyone in the stands.”
To wrap up homecoming, the Men of Troy finished the game with a 35 to 0 point game and seniors had their first official senior skip day on Friday the 13th.
