Triton Wears Down Caston Comets
October 21, 2017 at 3:48 a.m.
Triton Wears Down Caston Comets
By Mark [email protected]
The game was a rematch of Hoosier North Athletic Conference teams, but Caston wasn’t going to roll over because of Triton’s 50-13 win on Sept. 1.
The Trojans couldn’t have started much worse; they had 20 yards in penalties before the first second ticked off the game clock. An illegal procedure penalty, followed by a kickoff going out of bounds gave the Comets the ball at their 40.
Seven plays later the Comets took a 7-0 lead on a touchdown pass from quarterback Brandon Kinser to Gavin Hickle.
Triton struck back when Ethan Berry, the short man in punt formation, weaved his way 59 yards through the Comet punt return team for a touchdown.
Then Max Slusser went to work with his offensive line, and they handled business from that point forward.
Slusser scored three first-half touchdowns on runs of 6, 32 and 18 yards, getting key blocks from wide receivers on the last two runs. He added a fourth score from 15 yards out on the third play after halftime to put Caston away. He finished with 111 yards on just nine carries in three quarters of action.
“Max is a senior and has great leadership, and he drives his legs hard,” Triton coach Ron Brown said. “He’s a great kid and plays a big role for us, not just on offense, but in the secondary.
“Same thing with Ethan. He’s back there in the secondary. He’s a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior, so hopefully he gets a little bit bigger, and continues to run the ball hard.
“It’s a great problem to not know who to give the ball to.”
Triton normally passes the ball a lot more, but Friday its most successful plays in the air came on shuttle passes, including Delano Shumpert’s 20-yard catch and run to close out the Triton scoring. Brown said passing less wasn’t necessarily part of the game plan, but more of an on-the-fly adjustment.
“We didn’t make an effort to run the ball more, we just took what they were giving us,” he said. “We thought they’d allow us to throw the ball more by packing the box, but they didn’t. So we took what they gave us.”
Brown had high praise for the Comets, who had just 18 players suited up for the game.
“Like I’ve said all year, all the teams in our conference are pretty good. Just because the record might not look like they are going to play hard, Caston came in here ready to battle for that first quarter. Unfortunately for them, numbers began to play a factor and our endurance was able to take over. We were able to rotate in a bunch of guys on the defensive line, and that’s an advantage for us. We could easily be in the same situation.”
The Trojans played a little bit short-handed due to a car accident Wednesday involving three players. It could have been much worse, as the Triton community knows all too well after junior Cam Scarberry lost his life in an accident Sept. 17.
“Brandon Lenker, our kicker, is out right now. Delano Shumpert somehow got through, but he was a little bit limited, and (junior lineman) Billy Smith took the brunt of the impact. I don’t know how he walked away without getting hurt.
“It was not a fun scene to come upon, and something you don’t want to get called to. Unfortunately, we’ve had two of those this year.”
Triton improved to 7-3 and gets a rematch with Winamac in a sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. in Bourbon Friday night. The Warriors (5-5) advanced with a 28-20 win over visiting South Central Friday night. Triton won at Winamac 36-19 on Oct. 13.
“They’re a very hard-hitting team, and we’re going to have to get healthy and get ready to go. I’m sure they’re going to make some adjustments and give us some fits.”
On the other side of the bracket, Culver Community took a 49-14 win over West Central (the only non-HNAC team in the sectional) and LaVille won 30-0 over North Judson. The Lancers will host the Cavaliers Friday night.
TRITON 42, CASTON 13
C 7 0 0 6 – 13
T 12 16 14 0 – 42
C T
1st downs 12 16
Rushing yds 154 236
Passing yds 93 96
Comp-Att-Int 6-15-0 7-10-1
Total yds 247 332
Fumbles/lost 2-0 2-0
Penalties/yds 6-33 11-65
Punts/avg. 4-40 1-40
First Quarter
C – Gavin Hickle 13 pass from Brandon Kinser (Noah Rushinsky kick) 8:35, 7-0
T – Ethan Berry 59 run (run failed) 7:23, 7-6
T – Max Slusser 6 run (pass failed) 3:15, 12-7
Second Quarter
T – Slusser 32 run (Drew Stichter pass from James Snyder) 11:50, 20-7
T – Slusser 18 run (Berry run) 1:06, 28-7
Third Quarter
T – Slusser 15 run (Delano Shumpert pass from Snyder) 10:53, 36-7
T – Shumpert 20 pass from Snyder (kick failed) 8:07, 42-7
Fourth Quarter
C – Kasey Ault 2 run (kick failed) 3:43, 42-13
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Caston – Ault 16-90, Tayt Cowell 6-33, Brady Hartman 10-32, Kinser 7-(minus 1); Triton – Slusser 9-111, Berry 4-75, Snyder 6-27, Hunter McIntyre 6-16, Ryan Farmwald 1-4, Connor Pitney 1-3, Trenton Kreft 1-0.
Passing: Caston – Kinser 7-10-93 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Triton – Snyder 6-15-96 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Caston – Ault 4-68, Hickle 2-24, Hartman 1-1; Triton – Slusser 2-46, Stichter 2-27, Shumpert 2-23.
Records: Caston 1-9, Triton 7-3
E-Editions
The game was a rematch of Hoosier North Athletic Conference teams, but Caston wasn’t going to roll over because of Triton’s 50-13 win on Sept. 1.
The Trojans couldn’t have started much worse; they had 20 yards in penalties before the first second ticked off the game clock. An illegal procedure penalty, followed by a kickoff going out of bounds gave the Comets the ball at their 40.
Seven plays later the Comets took a 7-0 lead on a touchdown pass from quarterback Brandon Kinser to Gavin Hickle.
Triton struck back when Ethan Berry, the short man in punt formation, weaved his way 59 yards through the Comet punt return team for a touchdown.
Then Max Slusser went to work with his offensive line, and they handled business from that point forward.
Slusser scored three first-half touchdowns on runs of 6, 32 and 18 yards, getting key blocks from wide receivers on the last two runs. He added a fourth score from 15 yards out on the third play after halftime to put Caston away. He finished with 111 yards on just nine carries in three quarters of action.
“Max is a senior and has great leadership, and he drives his legs hard,” Triton coach Ron Brown said. “He’s a great kid and plays a big role for us, not just on offense, but in the secondary.
“Same thing with Ethan. He’s back there in the secondary. He’s a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior, so hopefully he gets a little bit bigger, and continues to run the ball hard.
“It’s a great problem to not know who to give the ball to.”
Triton normally passes the ball a lot more, but Friday its most successful plays in the air came on shuttle passes, including Delano Shumpert’s 20-yard catch and run to close out the Triton scoring. Brown said passing less wasn’t necessarily part of the game plan, but more of an on-the-fly adjustment.
“We didn’t make an effort to run the ball more, we just took what they were giving us,” he said. “We thought they’d allow us to throw the ball more by packing the box, but they didn’t. So we took what they gave us.”
Brown had high praise for the Comets, who had just 18 players suited up for the game.
“Like I’ve said all year, all the teams in our conference are pretty good. Just because the record might not look like they are going to play hard, Caston came in here ready to battle for that first quarter. Unfortunately for them, numbers began to play a factor and our endurance was able to take over. We were able to rotate in a bunch of guys on the defensive line, and that’s an advantage for us. We could easily be in the same situation.”
The Trojans played a little bit short-handed due to a car accident Wednesday involving three players. It could have been much worse, as the Triton community knows all too well after junior Cam Scarberry lost his life in an accident Sept. 17.
“Brandon Lenker, our kicker, is out right now. Delano Shumpert somehow got through, but he was a little bit limited, and (junior lineman) Billy Smith took the brunt of the impact. I don’t know how he walked away without getting hurt.
“It was not a fun scene to come upon, and something you don’t want to get called to. Unfortunately, we’ve had two of those this year.”
Triton improved to 7-3 and gets a rematch with Winamac in a sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. in Bourbon Friday night. The Warriors (5-5) advanced with a 28-20 win over visiting South Central Friday night. Triton won at Winamac 36-19 on Oct. 13.
“They’re a very hard-hitting team, and we’re going to have to get healthy and get ready to go. I’m sure they’re going to make some adjustments and give us some fits.”
On the other side of the bracket, Culver Community took a 49-14 win over West Central (the only non-HNAC team in the sectional) and LaVille won 30-0 over North Judson. The Lancers will host the Cavaliers Friday night.
TRITON 42, CASTON 13
C 7 0 0 6 – 13
T 12 16 14 0 – 42
C T
1st downs 12 16
Rushing yds 154 236
Passing yds 93 96
Comp-Att-Int 6-15-0 7-10-1
Total yds 247 332
Fumbles/lost 2-0 2-0
Penalties/yds 6-33 11-65
Punts/avg. 4-40 1-40
First Quarter
C – Gavin Hickle 13 pass from Brandon Kinser (Noah Rushinsky kick) 8:35, 7-0
T – Ethan Berry 59 run (run failed) 7:23, 7-6
T – Max Slusser 6 run (pass failed) 3:15, 12-7
Second Quarter
T – Slusser 32 run (Drew Stichter pass from James Snyder) 11:50, 20-7
T – Slusser 18 run (Berry run) 1:06, 28-7
Third Quarter
T – Slusser 15 run (Delano Shumpert pass from Snyder) 10:53, 36-7
T – Shumpert 20 pass from Snyder (kick failed) 8:07, 42-7
Fourth Quarter
C – Kasey Ault 2 run (kick failed) 3:43, 42-13
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Caston – Ault 16-90, Tayt Cowell 6-33, Brady Hartman 10-32, Kinser 7-(minus 1); Triton – Slusser 9-111, Berry 4-75, Snyder 6-27, Hunter McIntyre 6-16, Ryan Farmwald 1-4, Connor Pitney 1-3, Trenton Kreft 1-0.
Passing: Caston – Kinser 7-10-93 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Triton – Snyder 6-15-96 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Caston – Ault 4-68, Hickle 2-24, Hartman 1-1; Triton – Slusser 2-46, Stichter 2-27, Shumpert 2-23.
Records: Caston 1-9, Triton 7-3
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