TROY, Kan. — Troy was able to hang on at home 14-11 and outlast Wathena in a defensive struggle that ended the rival Wildcats’ season and extended the Trojans’.

Wathena dominated early (4-5, 4-3 DVL). The Wildcats built an 11-0 lead on a 21-yard field goal by Jerad Hawkins, a 23-yard interception return from Bryce Paden and a safety by the Wildcat Defense.

But the entire game seemed to hinge on the series of plays surrounding the safety.

After Wathena drove the ball down the field, it was faced with a fourth-and-2 from Troy’s 2-yard line. After failing to convert, the defense came up with the safety on the next play. But on the ensuing free kick, Wathena was flagged for a 15-yard late hit penalty. The Wildcats then had a holding call and a false start on two of their next three plays. Faced with third-and-long, the team was forced to air the ball out rather than hand it off to its star running back, Paden.

With the ball in the air, Troy safety Jesse Masters was able to find it, go up and get it — one of two interceptions Masters had on the night. After coming down with the interception, Masters returned the ball to Wathena’s 8-yard line.

“We got down early, and we got down on ourselves,” Masters said. “But we came back out of it and came out strong and never gave up. We just kept on going.”

On the next play, Troy (5-4, 5-2) looked to quarterback Eli Smith. Despite ending the day zero-for-5 with the interception to Paden, Smith was able to find the end zone with his feet on a bootleg.

Trailing 11-6, Troy went for the 2-point conversion, and running back Kenny Tharman plunged in from 3 yards out.

The teams matched defensive stops for the next seven minutes in the first half, came out after halftime and did the same for the entire third quarter.

“(The defense) was phenomenal,” Troy coach Tod Warner said. “I’m telling you, the key was Masters. Two interceptions, they were just huge, huge, huge. If we gave out a game ball, it would definitely go to him.”

In the fourth quarter with 8 minutes, 30 seconds remaining, Garrett Meng, Troy’s former offensive tackle converted to fullback, was able to plow in from the 1-yard line for the final points. Meng missed the extra point.

Wathena had two final chances to tie or take the lead. Just inside 4 minutes, the Wildcats got the ball on Troy’s 34-yard line. But after two consecutive false starts, an attempted option play was blown up, and the Trojans recovered the ball after it flew loose.

Then taking the ball over with 2 minutes remaining and needing to drive 70 yards for a touchdown, Wathena turned to the air. Quarterback Derek Nold was able to connect on 3 of 6 attempts for 34 yards before being picked off on his seventh throw of the drive by Troy’s Smith — also one of the team’s cornerbacks.

“Obviously (those mistakes) are huge,” coach Scot Koranda said, “because it kept us from converting some first downs and getting down into field goal range where we would have a shot like we did earlier. If it’s a tie it, at least would have given us another shot at it ... Shooting ourselves in the foot just killed us.”

The Trojans killed the clocking by kneeling down three times, and the Trojans locked up their eighth straight playoff appearance.