Led by a record- breaking performance from its star running-back, the Troy Buchanan Trojans walloped Francis Howell Central 70-25 to improve to 10-0 and set up a chance for revenge in Friday’s district championship.

After beating the Spartans 43-7 earlier in the season, Troy’s offense couldn’t be stopped Friday night in front of the home crowd as the Trojans scored a remarkable 10 touchdowns on only 35 plays from scrimmage.

Half of those touchdowns came from junior Carter Dowell, who ran the ball for 274 yards on 11 carries, an average of nearly 25 yards a carry. He made the most of those 11 carries, scoring on four of them from 24, 1, 30 and 45 yards. The one pass he caught he covered 52 yards for one of two Hunter Humphrey passing touchdowns.

As great a game as it was for Dowell, it wasn’t even as good as the first game against the Spartans in which he carried the ball just 10 times for 306 yards, five touchdowns and a twopoint conversion in a 43-7 Troy win. In the two games, Dowell has rushed for 583 yards on 21 carries with nine touchdowns.

Those nine touchdowns accounted for more than a third of Dowell’s 26 rushing scores this season, a new Troy school record.

Beyond Dowell’s record- setting performance, Humphrey had another near flawless game for Troy, running the ball seven times for 88 yards and a 23-yard first quarter score, while connecting on all four of his pass attempts for 80 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

In addition to the 52yard pass to Dowell, Humphrey and Jackson Trower connected for a fifth time this season on a 13-yard touchdown pass. It was the 20th catch of the year for Trower to go along with 455 receiving yards and a rushing touchdown.

On his first carry of the season, Kyle Eisenbath scored on a four-yard run and Tytrell Griggsby made the most of his only carry with a 10-yard TD run, his third score of the year. The final touchdown of the game came when Freshman Carter Shafer connected with Cooper Helvey for a oneyard TD pass to close out the Trojan scoring.

With five two-play scoring drives and two that lasted one play, Troy only ran 23 plays in the first half in just over 9 minutes, leaving the defense on the field more than usual.

And the Spartans did find some success on offense, including an 85-yard quarterback scramble from Jason Campbell for a touchdown with 10:18 to play in the first quarter, tying the score at 7-7. After the Trojans fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Francis Howell took over 26 yards from the end zone and three plays later, Campbell connected with Grayson Graham for an 18yard score, giving the Spartans a short-lived lead.

Campbell completed 20 of 33 passes in the game for 245 yards, three touchdowns and an interception while adding 127 yards on the ground.

Brandon Jones intercepted the pass for Troy in the final minute of the first half and returned it 63 yards to set up Humphrey’s TD run. It was the second interception of the year for Jones, both coming against the Spartans.

Talan Rowland and Chris Wenger again led the Trojans in tackling with 12 and 9 tackles each, respectively. Braden West added six tackles and Brody Berryman recorded a sack for the second consecutive game, adding four tackles from his defensive tackle position.

With the win, the number- one seeded Trojans get the perfect opportunity to avenge a 38-7 loss to Rock Bridge a year ago.

While the seedings may be reversed this year, giving Troy the home game instead of playing in Columbia, the Bruins actually come into the rematch with a better record this year at 9-1 than they had last year at 8-2. Rock Bridge has rattled off nine consecutive wins after losing the season opener to Park Hill 46-45. They advanced to the district finals with a 35-14 win over St. Dominic.

But another big difference in this year’s rematch will be the presence of Dowell, who missed the last couple games of 2023 due to a broken collarbone after racing for more than 1,000 yards in essentially eight games as a sophomore.

Whomever wins in the district final advances to the Round of 16, where they will play the winner of St. Louis University High and Desmet Jesuit.

Friday’s game in Troy features a 7 p.m. kickoff.