FULLERTON – What Troy has in Josiah Norwood, Skyler Taylor and Cole Thomas are options.
All Warriors coach Kevin Hastin has to do is feed the hot hand and let his bruising offensive linemen crater the line of scrimmage.
Five players scored for Troy on Friday night, and the Warriors defeated Canyon, 41-26, in the opener for both teams at Fullerton Union High.
“It started with the guys up front,” said Hastin, now in his fifth year at Troy. “Our entire offensive line is seniors, and we rode their coattails tonight. They were making some nice holes, and our backs ran hard.”
Taylor, a returning junior, led all rushers with 158 yards, followed by Brett Ferguson with 91.
Ferguson, a senior, also scored twice.
The Warriors rushing attack gained 386 yards, with four ballcarriers receiving at least nine rushes.
Hastin commended the blocking prowess of Trevor O’Brien and Conner Contreras, with enough praise to go around.
In the backfield, Thomas served as Hastin’s fullback, complemented by big-play threats Ferguson and Taylor.
Norwood can sling it, but as good as Troy’s running game was, he attempted only one pass in the second half.
“I would’ve liked to throw the deep ball a little better,” Hastin said. “But we have some young receivers, and Josiah’s still getting used to throwing to them.”
After falling behind early, Troy (1-0) scored 21 consecutive points.
The Warriors took a 28-14 lead into halftime.
Canyon (0-1) found some success when it sped up its offense.
Before leaving the game in the third quarter because of injury, Comanches running back Jesse Lobato gained 83 rushing yards. Cole Nequette finished with 57.
Canyon receivers Hank Richardson and Christian Downey had touchdown receptions, and after a shaky start, quarterback Anthony Marquez completed 9 of his final 14 pass attempts.
Contact the writer: bwhitehead@scng.com
