By Ron Holt

Bixby’s 6-0, 190-pound senior kicker Troy Nguyen was unsure what to expect when he joined the Spartan football team for the first time a few months before the start of the 2023 football season.

After visiting with Spartan head coach Loren Montgomery, Nguyen, a former soccer player, decided to work on his kicking skills last summer. It turned out to be a win-win situation for Nguyen and the Spartans.

Nguyen handled kickoffs and place-kicking duties for the Spartans, playing a key special team role in the team’s unbeaten season and second straight Class 6A-I championship.

“Before my first game I had no idea the things I’d be doing,” Nguyen said shortly after signing a national letter-of-intent to kick at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah during a signing ceremony in Bixby’s Whitey Ford Field House Thursday (April 18).

“I never saw this coming but once I stepped on the football field my whole perspective changed. I surprised myself.”

Nguyen finished with 113 kickoffs, 48 being touch backs. He was 85-of-87 on point-after kicks and hit both of his field goal attempts, including a long kick of 34 yards. He accounted for 91 points for the Spartans.

The success he enjoyed in only one season motivated Nguyen to seek collegiate opportunities. After a recent visit to NSU, he decided to sign with the RiverHawks.

“I had only played like six months, and I made crazy progression … I thought if I would just keep

practicing that I could go far doing this. I just want to keep practicing and improving,” said Nguyen, who plans to major in pre-medicine at NSU.

“I liked the school. It was easy to walk everywhere. I don’t like a school that’s way too big and you have to drive everywhere. It felt like good surroundings overall,” he added.