In a back-and-forth battle, the Akron Zips fell to the Troy Trojans by a score of 22-17 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Alabama on Saturday.

Following a 25-minute lightning delay, Akron got on the board first with a 28-yard field goal by kicker Tom O’Leary. Troy, however, was able to take control to finish out the first half. After two rushing touchdowns and a field goal of their own, the Trojans went into halftime with a 16-3 advantage over the Zips.

The Zips came storming back in the third quarter, closing the gap on Troy’s lead to just 6 points. The score came courtesy of a 29-yard touchdown pass from QB Thomas Woodson to wide receiver Kwadarrius Smith. Akron dominated the third quarter, possessing the ball for nearly five more minutes than Troy.

With Akron’s defense holding Troy scoreless so far in the second half, Akron managed to take the lead with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter. The score came from redshirt-senior, RB Warren Ball, who took a direct snap and scored on a four-yard touchdown run to put the Zips on top 17-16 with an extra point by O’Leary.

Clinging to the 17-16 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game, Akron punter, Nick Gasser, pinned Troy at their own three yard line forcing them to drive the entire length of the field to take the lead. The Trojans senior quarterback, Brandon Silvers led a nine play, 97-yard drive, capped off by a 23-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver, Deondre Douglas, to give Troy the final 22-17 advantage.

Ball picked up 112 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. Smith led the Zips with 103 receiving yards on four receptions, and senior receiver, Austin Wolf caught six passes for 71 yards. Woodson was 20-for-40, throwing for 268 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions (one coming on the Zips final drive, sealing the win for Troy).

Silvers finished the game by completing 28 of 41 passes for 314 yards and threw the game-winning touchdown. Douglas led the Trojans with 92 yards on seven receptions and the final touchdown. Running back, Jordan Chunn, ran 16 times for 106 yards and a touchdown.

“How many times were we in the red zone and didn’t score a touchdown or field goal?” UA’s head coach, Terry Bowden, said. “We didn’t play a real good football game, but the kids played hard. We didn’t do the things we needed to do to win a game.”

Akron (1-3) will begin conference play next Saturday, Sept. 30, by traveling to Bowling Green to take on the Falcons. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ESPN3. The Zips’ will be back at Infocision Stadium for our homecoming game against Ball State on Oct. 7, at 3:30 p.m. Visit www.gozips.com for ticket information.