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The Troup football fans that traveled across county lines to Harris County were treated to a classic matchup in the battle of the Tigers as the home team pulled out a narrow 21-17 victory.

“This is a great crowd,” Troup coach Tanner Glisson said. “This is what high school football is all about. It’s a friendly rivalry with Harris County, and these games are always a lot of fun.”

The Tigers of Troup had their chance, but a pass from Garrison Edwards to Davis Moncus in the back of the end zone was broken up with 18 seconds on the clock.

“We came into a great atmosphere and had a chance to win at the very end. That’s all we can ask for,” Glisson said. 

After a defensive slugfest in the first half, the offenses found a rhythm over the final 24 minutes. Harris County had a 7-0 lead heading into the second half, but in all reality, it should have been tied. 

Troup marched the opening possession down the field but fumbled the ball away after getting it down to the 1-yard line.

“You know, we turned the ball over on the opening drive on the 2-ard line. If we don’t turn that over, maybe it’s a different game. But, you know, hats off to them, they have a great team,” Glisson said. “They played great, and we’ll be back. We’re gonna be okay.”

Troup recovered a muffed squib kick to start the second half and turned it into three points when McCarty Harrelson nailed a field goal to get the Tigers on the board in a hostile environment.

“We went with an onside kick, a little squib. We made a play, got the ball, got a little momentum, kept it on our sideline the whole third quarter, but just couldn’t finish it,” Glisson said.

Troup got the ball right back and took its first lead of the game when Edwards ran the ball into the end zone from a short distance.

Harris County had a big response, scoring on a 45-yard quarterback keeper to take a 14-0 lead.

The momentum swung back and forth with Troup getting good field position on the kickoff return. The Tigers used their running game and quick passing game to move down the field quickly and capitalized when Edwards tiptoes into the end zone from a couple of yards out to put Troup up 17-14 with under a minute to go in the third quarter.

“I just thought he played a really good football game. He ran the ball really hard. He’s gonna get better and better every week,” Glisson said. “You saw that tonight.”

Harris County would grind out a long, drawn-out possession to start the fourth, taking off almost eight minutes of the game clock and scoring what would be the winning touchdown of the game.

Troup was able to convert one fourth down and get the ball onto Harris County’s side of the field, but the Tigers’ final drive of the game would end in a turnover on downs. 

Troup fell to 1-1 on the season. The Tigers will kick off their region schedule next week against Whitewater for their third consecutive road contest to start the season.

“I think we played two really good quality programs,” Glisson said. “Last week we won kind of going away, and tonight we got some great experience in a hostile environment in a game that went down to the last seconds, so I’m pretty optimistic.”