Athlete of the Week: Aiden Kirkpatrick, Troy football

For his efforts last week, Kirkpatrick was named the Dayton Daily News Athlete of the Week for Sept. 8 through Sept. 13, earning the honor through reader voting at DaytonDailyNews.com.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Kirkpatrick said. “I’ve never received an honor like this before so it’s almost like surreal. I never thought it would happen.”

Troy accomplished one of its goals last week by winning “The Battle on the Miami”. The Trojans increased their overall lead in the series to 69-66-6.

Now, they’ll focus on making a run at their second Miami Valley League title in three seasons. The Trojans (3-1) last won the conference title in 2023, earning a share of both the MVL championship and the MVL Miami Division title with Butler and Tippecanoe.

“Our main goal is to win our league championship and obviously we want to go pretty far in the playoffs and keep playing as long as we can,” Kirkpatrick said.

The Trojans have won three straight since a season-opening loss to Middletown where they jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but fell 28-20. Kirkpatrick ran for a score, threw for another and kicked two field goals in the loss.

“We fought hard in that game,” Kirkpatrick said. “We got out very fast and it sucks they came back to beat us. We know that if we’re capable of playing like that in the first quarter (against Middletown), we can play like that every quarter the entire season and we will be a very, very good football team. Everyone learned what we’re capable of.”

Kirkpatrick has played quarterback since sixth grade and stepped into the starting role as a sophomore. The Trojans went 11-2 that season, winning two playoff games before falling to Cincinnati Withrow in a D-II, Region 8 semifinal game.

Troy runs a Wing-T-based offense that includes shotgun formations with lots of motioning and run-pass option plays, Kirkpatrick said.

“It’s pretty complex,” he said. “I would hate being a defensive coordinator going up against it.”

The Trojans beat Xenia, West Carrollton and Piqua in the last three weeks, outscoring their opponents 98-21. The Trojans dual-threat quarterback ranks among the Miami Valley League leaders in passing yards (444) and rushing yards (387).

“First of all, our coaches do a great job of using me to my strengths and are always putting me in a great position,” Kirkpatrick said. “My offensive line is very good. All my other skill positions that I throw to - I think I threw to 10 different receivers in my last game - we have a lot of great athletes.”

Send us your nominations