TROY, Ala. (12/06/08) ? Arkansas State saw its bid for a Sun Belt
Conference championship fall short in Troy, Ala. Saturday night with a 35-9
loss to the Troy Trojans at Movie Gallery Stadium.
With the victory, Troy (8-4, 6-1) clinched the conference title
and a berth in the Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl while Arkansas State finished the
regular season at 6-6 overall and 4-3 in league play. The Red Wolves must now wait for Sunday's
bowl announcements to find out whether they will be invited to post-season play
for the second time in the last four years.
Troy jumped out to a 21-0 in the first half, getting on the
scoreboard with a 19-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Levi Brown to
junior wideout Cornelius Williams with 2:03 remaining in the first quarter.
Brown added a 6-yard scoring pass to running back Xavier Moreland
midway through the second quarter, and 6-yard touchdown run from fullback
DuJuan Harris put the Trojans in the end zone again with one minute to play in
the first half. Placekicker Sam Glusman
added his third extra point of the half for the 21-0 Troy advantage.
The Red Wolves drove deep into Troy territory twice in the third
quarter, but came away empty both times.
A turnover at the Troy 1 killed the first drive, and the Red Wolves gave
the ball up on downs at the Trojan 1 on their second possession of the second half.
Arkansas State got on the scoreboard with 13:55 remaining in the
game when senior cornerback Dominique Williams sacked Brown in the end zone for
a safety, but Troy answered with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Brown to wide
receiver Austin Silvoy to make it 28-2 with 8:50 to play.
A 12-yard touchdown run from Harris with 6:29 remaining bumped the
Troy lead to 35-2 before Arkansas State got in the end zone with a one-yard
touchdown run from senior quarterback Travis Hewitt with three minutes to play. Junior kicker Josh Arauco added the extra
point to set the final score at 35-9.
Junior tailback Reggie Arnold rushed for 83 yards on 18 carries
and junior quarterback Corey Leonard completed 17-of-32 passes for 172 yards,
including seven completions for 52 yards to junior wideout Jahbari McLennan to
lead the ASU offense on the night.
Senior linebacker Ben Owens, sophomore linebacker Darius Glover and
junior defensive back Marcus Brown led the Red Wolves on defense with six
tackles each.
For Troy, Brown completed 15-of-23 passes for 181 yards and three
touchdowns to lead the Trojan offense, while defensive end Cameron Sheffield,
and linebacker Boris Lee led the Troy defense with eight stops each.
