Troy wins 2nd straight Class AA state football title

PHOTOGRAPHER: NYSPHSAA/Via Twitter

Troy celebrates winning its second straight state title Sunday.

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SYRACUSE — Crown the Flying Horses. Again.

Troy is New York’s Class AA football champion after decisively beating Lancaster 41-26 Sunday at the Carrier Dome for its second straight state title.

Two late scores by Lancaster made the score closer than the flow of the game indicated, as Troy dominated throughout.

Troy won as it has the past two years: On the legs on Dev Holmes and Joey Ward, and the arm of Joe Casale. Ward had three touchdown runs and another through the air, and Holmes had two TD receptions. In addition to his three touchdown tosses, Casale ran for a two-point conversion.

Troy edged Victor 21-20 last year for the title. Troy also won state crowns in 1998 (Class AA), and 1996 (A).

The Flying Horses join Cambridge as the only Section II schools to repeat as state football champions. The title game win was Troy’s 26th victory in a row.

Coach Bob Burns told NYSPHSAA he never thought his team was going to lose over the course of the season, and challenged them to “leave their legacy.”

“They just refused to get beat,” he said. “They are just a tough group of kids.”

No Section II team had ever won two consecutive New York State Public High School Athletic Association titles until Friday, when Cambridge defeated Maple Grove 26-14 for the Class D crown. Cambridge also beat Maple Grove in the 2016 title game 22-21 in double-overtime.

Troy (13-0) had won its previous four state tourney games this fall by four touchdowns or less before routing Lancaster (12-1).

Troy (12-0) defeated Newburgh Free Academy in last week’s state semifinals 20-13 when receiver Holmes scored on a reverse handoff from 11 yards away with just over two minutes left.

Lancaster (Section VI, 12-0) defeated Cicero-North Syracuse in its semifinal game 35-21 when Wildcat-formation quarterback Joe Andreessen ran for two touchdowns and passed for another.

Holy Trinity made its first state title-game appearance Friday and lost to Skaneateles in the Class C final 28-25. Nacier Hundley caught two of Joe Tortello’s four touchdown passes and also had two interceptions for the Pride, and Jake Cross was in on 14 tackles.