The St. Regis Tigers turned on the defense and turned back the homestanding Troy Trojans 56-14 in Troy Friday. Now 2-1 in Western conference 8-Man football play, coach Jesse Allan and his Tigers are set to visit Plains for a date with the Horsemen this Friday.

For their part, the undermanned Horsemen played their first game of the season last week and lost 54-12 to Mission in Mission.

Allan said the Tigers took it to the Trojans from the start in Troy Friday. “Our defense, specifically our secondary, made it tough on Troy most of the night,” he said pointing to the beginning of the contest. “Troy's first three drives ended in turnovers and Barrett (Bessette) turned the last one into a 25 yard interception return for a touchdown.”

Allan said getting a big lead early helped the Tigers get a lot of kids some quality playing time in Troy. “I’m excited that we were able to get some of our young guys in throughout,” he said. “We're going to need them down the stretch for sure.”

Allan said the St. Regis defense was stellar most of the way, and ended coming up with seven big takeaways in the game.

As usual this season, Conner Lulis was poison on the opposition from his quarterback position for St. Regis, passing for 180 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to running for two more scores.

Bessette piled up 50 yards receiving and 80 rushing, scoring one touchdown on a running play and another after an interception, leading the Tigers on defense with a game-high 14 tackles.

Isaac Kelly gained 115 yards receiving and caught two TD passes, besides passing for another touchdown, and Nate Bohn totaled 75 yards receiving, scoring two more touchdowns.

The Tigers set the clock in motion by building a 44-0 lead by halftime and only allowed Troy to score late in the game after holding them in check most of the way.