Triton Enters Football Season With New Expectations
August 14, 2017 at 3:10 p.m.
Triton Enters Football Season With New Expectations
By Mark [email protected]
So it might be easy to think of football as a glorified conditioning program for basketball and wrestling in the winter.
Not so fast, says coach Ron Brown and, more importantly, the Trojan players.
After losing the first seven games last year, Triton lost a triple overtime game 34-33 to Knox, but went on to beat West Central and avenge a loss to Caston in the sectional, scoring 91 points in the process. The season ended with a hard-fought 39-20 loss against Southwood in the sectional semifinals, but the late season boost has served as a catalyst into the 2017 campaign.
Brown, his staff and players have put in a determined effort to change the culture and thinking around the program. The players say they never put down a teammate for a mistake. Instead, they say only positive things and pick each other up.
Combined with game experience, there is a noticeable uptick around the program, with much higher expectations than in recent seasons.
Brown said the late-season success carried over into the offseason, well after the shine of the late-season wins wore off.
“I think we had a great summer,” Brown said. “We had a lot of kids showing up, and we had some very successful seven-on-seven’s. We went up to Grand Valley State (Michigan) and did very well. We went down to Earlham (Richmond, Ind.) and played a lot of 4A schools and did very well.
“Having that success helped our athletes’ confidence out, and they started to gel very well together. I have all the confidence in the world in them. I tell them all the time that I’m not going to tell them who they should beat, or what’s going to happen, or put any expectations out there because I don’t want to limit them or put pre-set notions in their minds. If they want to do well, they’ll decide to do well and they’ll make it happen.”
Triton will put a junior-laden team on the field this season, led by quarterback James “Bo” Snyder. As a sophomore he passed for 1,273 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging better than 14 yards a completion.
“Snyder has been the starting quarterback since the end of his freshman season,” said Brown. “Bo is a special kid. I think he has confidence now and with that comes an understanding of how to read defenses. That gives us some range to let him call audibles and things like that.”
Also returning are two of the top three receivers from 2016. Senior Drew Stichter and junior Delano Shumpert combined for 38 catches, 464 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Max Slusser, the Trojans’ leading rusher with 447 yards last year, returns for his senior season as well. Shumpert averaged nearly seven yards a carry in support of the running game, and Snyder added 199 yards rushing.
A big part of the culture change from years past is, according to Brown, there are no foregone conclusions heading into this season.
“That success (late last year) made them confident. They don’t go in thinking ‘this is the end result.’ They’re going to show up, they’re going to play hard, and if you beat us, great for you,” Brown said.
“But we’re going to be in every single game, and we’re going to give our best effort. That mentality has changed here at Triton, and that has a lot to do with kids like Drew Stichter, who has great leadership. He doesn’t lead by fear or harassment, but by encouragement. Vincent Helton is another good leader, as is Tye Orsund. Max Slusser puts out great effort and I can see great things happening for him.”
The growth in confidence comes from a trust that each man will take care of his business, Brown said.
“This is the first year that I feel confident that every single player is going to do their job,” he said. “I don’t feel like we have any glaring holes. Now maybe when we start playing games we’ll see some, but with the amount of effort these kids have put in, which has been way more than I’ve seen since I’ve been here, it looks like they want to compete this year.
“After my first year I felt we had great athletes but not many football players. I feel like that’s changed. Last year we talked about how we were young, but right off the bat I told the team ‘we’re not young anymore, that excuse is out the door.’”
Starting Friday night, it’s time for all the effort since last October to pay off.
“It’s up to the kids on Friday nights, and they have a great opportunity to take some steps forward,” Brown said. “I told them ‘we can’t just take a few steps forward this year; it’s time to take some big steps and have people respect you as a contender.’
“Let’s just admit it, everyone is circling us as a win on their schedule, and that’s OK. It’s alright. We’ll be the underdog every night. That’ll take the pressure off of us and we’ll just play aggressively and do what we’re going to do.”
Triton opens its regular season Friday, hosting South Newton at 7:30 p.m. The Aug. 25 Hoosier North Athletic Conference opener against LaVille has been moved to the Triton campus due to construction at LaVille.
E-Editions
So it might be easy to think of football as a glorified conditioning program for basketball and wrestling in the winter.
Not so fast, says coach Ron Brown and, more importantly, the Trojan players.
After losing the first seven games last year, Triton lost a triple overtime game 34-33 to Knox, but went on to beat West Central and avenge a loss to Caston in the sectional, scoring 91 points in the process. The season ended with a hard-fought 39-20 loss against Southwood in the sectional semifinals, but the late season boost has served as a catalyst into the 2017 campaign.
Brown, his staff and players have put in a determined effort to change the culture and thinking around the program. The players say they never put down a teammate for a mistake. Instead, they say only positive things and pick each other up.
Combined with game experience, there is a noticeable uptick around the program, with much higher expectations than in recent seasons.
Brown said the late-season success carried over into the offseason, well after the shine of the late-season wins wore off.
“I think we had a great summer,” Brown said. “We had a lot of kids showing up, and we had some very successful seven-on-seven’s. We went up to Grand Valley State (Michigan) and did very well. We went down to Earlham (Richmond, Ind.) and played a lot of 4A schools and did very well.
“Having that success helped our athletes’ confidence out, and they started to gel very well together. I have all the confidence in the world in them. I tell them all the time that I’m not going to tell them who they should beat, or what’s going to happen, or put any expectations out there because I don’t want to limit them or put pre-set notions in their minds. If they want to do well, they’ll decide to do well and they’ll make it happen.”
Triton will put a junior-laden team on the field this season, led by quarterback James “Bo” Snyder. As a sophomore he passed for 1,273 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging better than 14 yards a completion.
“Snyder has been the starting quarterback since the end of his freshman season,” said Brown. “Bo is a special kid. I think he has confidence now and with that comes an understanding of how to read defenses. That gives us some range to let him call audibles and things like that.”
Also returning are two of the top three receivers from 2016. Senior Drew Stichter and junior Delano Shumpert combined for 38 catches, 464 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Max Slusser, the Trojans’ leading rusher with 447 yards last year, returns for his senior season as well. Shumpert averaged nearly seven yards a carry in support of the running game, and Snyder added 199 yards rushing.
A big part of the culture change from years past is, according to Brown, there are no foregone conclusions heading into this season.
“That success (late last year) made them confident. They don’t go in thinking ‘this is the end result.’ They’re going to show up, they’re going to play hard, and if you beat us, great for you,” Brown said.
“But we’re going to be in every single game, and we’re going to give our best effort. That mentality has changed here at Triton, and that has a lot to do with kids like Drew Stichter, who has great leadership. He doesn’t lead by fear or harassment, but by encouragement. Vincent Helton is another good leader, as is Tye Orsund. Max Slusser puts out great effort and I can see great things happening for him.”
The growth in confidence comes from a trust that each man will take care of his business, Brown said.
“This is the first year that I feel confident that every single player is going to do their job,” he said. “I don’t feel like we have any glaring holes. Now maybe when we start playing games we’ll see some, but with the amount of effort these kids have put in, which has been way more than I’ve seen since I’ve been here, it looks like they want to compete this year.
“After my first year I felt we had great athletes but not many football players. I feel like that’s changed. Last year we talked about how we were young, but right off the bat I told the team ‘we’re not young anymore, that excuse is out the door.’”
Starting Friday night, it’s time for all the effort since last October to pay off.
“It’s up to the kids on Friday nights, and they have a great opportunity to take some steps forward,” Brown said. “I told them ‘we can’t just take a few steps forward this year; it’s time to take some big steps and have people respect you as a contender.’
“Let’s just admit it, everyone is circling us as a win on their schedule, and that’s OK. It’s alright. We’ll be the underdog every night. That’ll take the pressure off of us and we’ll just play aggressively and do what we’re going to do.”
Triton opens its regular season Friday, hosting South Newton at 7:30 p.m. The Aug. 25 Hoosier North Athletic Conference opener against LaVille has been moved to the Triton campus due to construction at LaVille.
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