Cougars Beat Triton Trojans
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
After trailing 21-7 at the half, Triton controlled the third quarter, holding the ball for 10:18 of the possible 12 minutes.[[In-content Ad]]To begin the fourth quarter, Trojans junior quarterback Adam Creighbaum cut the lead to 21-14 following a 1-yard touchdown run, but that would be as close as Triton would get on Homecoming Night.
Losing 35-14, the Class 1A Trojans drop to 3-3 on the year, 1-3 in the Northern State Conference. On the other side of the ball, the Class 3A Cougars evened their overall record at 3-3, but gained a winning NSC mark at 3-2.
"We battled well tonight," Triton coach Rodney Younis said. "I was proud of my guys. You never like losing a ballgame, but the effort was there tonight."
That effort was on full display in the third quarter, with the small school running 22 offensive plays to New Prairie's three. However, despite the huge time of possession advantage, the Trojans scored zero points.
They were able to get a score on the first play of the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 21-14.
"We came out in the second half and played real well, played real physical with them," Younis said. "The scoreboard does not indicate how this game really was. A break here, a break there and it could be different."
The Trojans did get a break on the kickoff following the Creighbaum score.
On what seemed unintended, Triton kicker Sebastian Mueller's low kickoff bounced right off of a Cougars' player in the front line. After making contact with the Cougar, the ball came right back to Triton's Blake Hoffer, who recovered the ball at the Triton 43-yard line.
With all the momentum going their way, and following consecutive drives of at least 11 plays, the Trojans went three-and-out, blowing a golden opportunity.
"It's about execution, and we did not execute on that series," Younis said. "When you have that momentum, you have to go for the jugular. We just didn't do it."
Following the punt, the Trojans defense stepped up, forcing the Cougars to punt for the first time of the night. The defensive stand handed the ball back to the home team with 8:20 remaining in the game.
Down by seven, and facing a 2nd-and-8 from their own 35-yard line, Creighbaum rolled to his right and tried to squeeze a pass to a receiver on the sideline. Just as the ball was getting to his man, New Prairie senior Jordan Martin got a great jump on the ball, picking it off.
"I was really pleased with our (defensive backs) tonight," New Prairie coach Marty Mosson said of his secondary, which had two interceptions.
New Prairie went on to score on that possession, as well as their next two, resulting in the 35-14 end score.
"I'm sure it was more deflating to the kids than to me," Younis said of the turnover. "It was a situation where Adam made a bad read, but that's going to happen. Unfortunately, it hurt us at a crucial time. We're going to have those type of mistakes."
The pass may have been a mistake, but when he was running the ball, Creighbaum made very few.
"He's as good a running quarterback as you're going to see," Mosson said of Creighbaum. "He makes plays."
On the night, Creighbaum ran the ball 19 times for 70 yards.
Of his 70 yards, 33 came in the first quarter following runs of 17, nine and seven yards. With Creighbaum hurting them, the New Prairie defense turned its sole attention toward him, holding him to negative-six yards in the second quarter.
At the half, Triton made adjustments, working more running backs into the scheme. In their opening drive of the second half, five different running backs ran the ball.
"Obviously, team's are going to key on Adam," Younis said. "We do have some other weapons. It's just a matter of them getting a breakout game. We were able to run our sweep, and Blake Hoffer ran the ball. Miles Reichard ran the sweep well and our fullback, Neil (Robinson), he ran the ball hard tonight. I was pleased with the other running backs stepping up tonight."
Hoffer ran the ball for 46 yards and Robinson had 40, but none of the Triton backs could touch the production of New Prairie senior fullback Kannon Keigley.
In the first half alone, Keigley punished the Triton defense for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
"We had to establish our fullback," Mosson said of Keigley, who only ran the ball twice for six yards in the second half. "We have to in our offense. If they're going to put eight or nine guys in the box, they're going to have to respect our fullback. When they start coming down on him, that opens everything else up."
As in any NSC game, the ground game was the biggest component of the game, but that didn't prevent Triton from getting a little creative.
With the game still tied at 0-0 in the first quarter, Younis went deep into his playbook following a timeout at the 5:43 mark in the first quarter.
On what appeared to be a broken reverse, Triton senior Dustin Kreft completed a halfback pass to senior tight end Zac Moriarty for a 52-yard score, giving the Trojans a brief 7-0 lead.
"We've had the halfback pass thrown on us three times this year," Mosson said. "LaPorte, Culver and Triton have done it now. You'd think we'd learn it by now. We do practice against it. You have to tip your cap to them.
"They have a nice offense," he added. "They're a solid team."
The Trojans are on the road next week at LaVille for another 7:30 p.m. NSC contest.
After trailing 21-7 at the half, Triton controlled the third quarter, holding the ball for 10:18 of the possible 12 minutes.[[In-content Ad]]To begin the fourth quarter, Trojans junior quarterback Adam Creighbaum cut the lead to 21-14 following a 1-yard touchdown run, but that would be as close as Triton would get on Homecoming Night.
Losing 35-14, the Class 1A Trojans drop to 3-3 on the year, 1-3 in the Northern State Conference. On the other side of the ball, the Class 3A Cougars evened their overall record at 3-3, but gained a winning NSC mark at 3-2.
"We battled well tonight," Triton coach Rodney Younis said. "I was proud of my guys. You never like losing a ballgame, but the effort was there tonight."
That effort was on full display in the third quarter, with the small school running 22 offensive plays to New Prairie's three. However, despite the huge time of possession advantage, the Trojans scored zero points.
They were able to get a score on the first play of the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 21-14.
"We came out in the second half and played real well, played real physical with them," Younis said. "The scoreboard does not indicate how this game really was. A break here, a break there and it could be different."
The Trojans did get a break on the kickoff following the Creighbaum score.
On what seemed unintended, Triton kicker Sebastian Mueller's low kickoff bounced right off of a Cougars' player in the front line. After making contact with the Cougar, the ball came right back to Triton's Blake Hoffer, who recovered the ball at the Triton 43-yard line.
With all the momentum going their way, and following consecutive drives of at least 11 plays, the Trojans went three-and-out, blowing a golden opportunity.
"It's about execution, and we did not execute on that series," Younis said. "When you have that momentum, you have to go for the jugular. We just didn't do it."
Following the punt, the Trojans defense stepped up, forcing the Cougars to punt for the first time of the night. The defensive stand handed the ball back to the home team with 8:20 remaining in the game.
Down by seven, and facing a 2nd-and-8 from their own 35-yard line, Creighbaum rolled to his right and tried to squeeze a pass to a receiver on the sideline. Just as the ball was getting to his man, New Prairie senior Jordan Martin got a great jump on the ball, picking it off.
"I was really pleased with our (defensive backs) tonight," New Prairie coach Marty Mosson said of his secondary, which had two interceptions.
New Prairie went on to score on that possession, as well as their next two, resulting in the 35-14 end score.
"I'm sure it was more deflating to the kids than to me," Younis said of the turnover. "It was a situation where Adam made a bad read, but that's going to happen. Unfortunately, it hurt us at a crucial time. We're going to have those type of mistakes."
The pass may have been a mistake, but when he was running the ball, Creighbaum made very few.
"He's as good a running quarterback as you're going to see," Mosson said of Creighbaum. "He makes plays."
On the night, Creighbaum ran the ball 19 times for 70 yards.
Of his 70 yards, 33 came in the first quarter following runs of 17, nine and seven yards. With Creighbaum hurting them, the New Prairie defense turned its sole attention toward him, holding him to negative-six yards in the second quarter.
At the half, Triton made adjustments, working more running backs into the scheme. In their opening drive of the second half, five different running backs ran the ball.
"Obviously, team's are going to key on Adam," Younis said. "We do have some other weapons. It's just a matter of them getting a breakout game. We were able to run our sweep, and Blake Hoffer ran the ball. Miles Reichard ran the sweep well and our fullback, Neil (Robinson), he ran the ball hard tonight. I was pleased with the other running backs stepping up tonight."
Hoffer ran the ball for 46 yards and Robinson had 40, but none of the Triton backs could touch the production of New Prairie senior fullback Kannon Keigley.
In the first half alone, Keigley punished the Triton defense for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
"We had to establish our fullback," Mosson said of Keigley, who only ran the ball twice for six yards in the second half. "We have to in our offense. If they're going to put eight or nine guys in the box, they're going to have to respect our fullback. When they start coming down on him, that opens everything else up."
As in any NSC game, the ground game was the biggest component of the game, but that didn't prevent Triton from getting a little creative.
With the game still tied at 0-0 in the first quarter, Younis went deep into his playbook following a timeout at the 5:43 mark in the first quarter.
On what appeared to be a broken reverse, Triton senior Dustin Kreft completed a halfback pass to senior tight end Zac Moriarty for a 52-yard score, giving the Trojans a brief 7-0 lead.
"We've had the halfback pass thrown on us three times this year," Mosson said. "LaPorte, Culver and Triton have done it now. You'd think we'd learn it by now. We do practice against it. You have to tip your cap to them.
"They have a nice offense," he added. "They're a solid team."
The Trojans are on the road next week at LaVille for another 7:30 p.m. NSC contest.
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