Ingots End Triton's Season

BOURBON -ÊOn paper, the class 1A sectional game between 5-4 River Forest and 2-7 Triton looked like a mismatch.

River Forest brought highly touted quarterback Adarius Gunn, who had thrown for over 1,600 yards with 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions on the season. Triton was coming into the game with a seven-game losing streak after a 2-0 start. After giving up 63 big points to Class 2A No. 3 Jimtown a week ago, the Trojans would have to play a perfect game to move on.

After a sloppy first half of play for the Ingots, they poured it on in the second half to finish Triton's season by dealing the Trojans a 48-13 loss.

"I really am proud of our kids,' Triton coach Rod Wildman said. "I really thought we played hard the first half, but then we got worn down.'

Coming into the game with nothing to lose, the Trojans started off the game with a little trickery. On the opening play of the game, Jake Burnett hit Landon Grubbs on a flea-flicker that resulted in a 66-yard touchdown pass for a quick 6-0 lead. Jim Read added the extra point to make it 7- 0 Trojans.

"We have been working on some of those plays in practice and it caught them off guard,' Wildman said.

The Trojan defense came up strong on the Ingots' first possession. After getting to the Trojan 38-yard line, the Trojans stopped the Ingots on fourth-and-six.

"Our defense really played well in the first half. We did a nice job of containing their passing and running game,' Wildman said.

On Triton's next possession, the Trojans gave the ball back on a fumble.

The fumble put the visitors in great position to tie the score. With second and goal, Triton's Joey Potter came up with his biggest interception of the season, intercepting the ball at the 1-yard line.

On River Forest's opening drive of the second quarter, Steve Zon found the end zone, taking it in from one yard out to cut the lead to 7-6. Tim Lyle added the extra point to tie it at 7-7.

After a defensive stop, the Ingots again moved the ball but again, turned the ball over with another fumble, this time recovered by Jim Read with 5:37 to play in the half.

Triton then gave the ball right back to the Ingots on their own fumble, this time by Read.

The Ingots then made the Trojans pay for this miscue, scoring on a 6-yard run by Zon with 3:46 in the half. Lyle's kick made it 14-7 River Forest.

With time running out in the half, the Trojans went for more trickery. With 50 seconds left in the half, quarterback Jake Burnett pitched the ball to Joey Potter, who found Burnett open in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown that cut the lead to one at 14-13. Read's extra point failed, leaving the Trojans behind 14-13 at the break.

"Burnett played a great game for his first game starting,' Wildman said. "Our receivers did a nice job of hitting their routes and Jake found them.'

The Trojans owned the first half stats. Trition threw for 145 yards to 24 for the Ingots. Again, it was the Ingots' offense who was supposed to light up the scoreboard.

There was still a half to play. The Ingots showed why they are a high-octane offense.

The Ingots outscored the Trojans 34-0 in the second half to blow this game open.

"When they got the momentum back, things really went down hill fast. When you play 13 guys, you get tired and we did that in the second half. They are a very good football team,' Wildman said.

On River Forest's opening drive of the third quarter, it ran four plays and scored on a 46-yard pass play from Gunn to Harry Manos to give the Ingots a 20-13 lead. The extra point was good, leaving the guests with a 21-13 advantage.

After a Triton interception, the Ingots scored again, this time on a 66-yard run by Rafael Price. The Ingots' try for two failed, leaving them with a 27-13 lead.

On Triton's next possession, the Trojans were forced to punt in their own end zone, which resulted in a bad snap that sailed out of the end zone for a saftey. The lead was up to 29-13 Ingots.

"We had a couple key turnovers that hurt us in the second half,' Wildman said.

River Forest finished off an impressive quarter scoring on the last play of the quarter on a 10-yard pass play from Gunn to Francisco Cueves. The two-point conversion again failed leaving the score 35-13.

The Ingots scored 13 fourth-quarter points to finish off a scrappy Trojan team 48-13 to end a frustrating season for Triton. After a promising 2-0 start, Triton's last eight games finished on a sour note.

"We were in almost all of our games for at least a half,' Wildman said. "When you aren't very deep, it just wears on you.'

RIVER FOREST 48

TRITON 13

River Forest 0 14 21 13 - 48

Triton 7 6 0 0 -Ê13

RF T

First downs 13 7

Rushes/yards 43-187 37-3

Passing yards 153 166

Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-13-2 11-20-2

Total offense 340 169

Fumbles/lost 3-1 3-3

Punts/avg. 0-0 3-21

Penalties/yards 9-97 4-28

First Quarter

T -ÊLandon Grubbs 18 pass from Jake Burnett (Jim Read kick) 11:29, 7-0 T.

Second Quarter

RF -ÊSteve Zon 1 run (Tim Lyle kick) 11:11, 7-7.

RF - Zon 6 run (Lyle kick) 3:46, 14-7 RF.

T -ÊBurnett 10 pass from Joey Potter (kick failed), :50 14-13 RF.

Third Quarter

RF - Harry Manos 46 pass from Adarius Gunn (Lyle kick) 10:33, 21-13 RF

RF -ÊRafael Price 66 run (conversion fails) 4:45, 27-13 RF.

RF - Saftety 2:29 29-13 RF.

RF -ÊFrancisco Cuevas 10 pass from Gunn (conversion fails) :00, 35-13 RF.

Fourth Quarter

RF - Gunn 1 run (Lyle kick) 8:20, 42-13 RF.

RF - Mike Fay 45 pass from Chuck Roth (conversion fails) 2:02, 48-13 RF.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - RF (Top Two)- Matt Sobel 14-93, Steve Zon 10-78. T- (Top Two)- Joey Potter 13-16, Jim Read 5-11.

Passing - RF- Gunn 5-12-2 INT 108, Zon 1-1-45 yd. T- Burnett 9-16-1 143, Jim Read 1-1 13 yd, Joey Potter 1-3-1 INT, 10 yd.

Receiving - RF- Cuevas 3-33, Manos 1-46, Price 1-29, Fay 1-45. T- Grubbs 6-121, Burnett 1-23, Read 2-16, Potter 1-6.