FAIRLAND -- A healthy Brad Schultz makes all the difference for Triton Central.

Injured in week two of the 2021 season, Schultz played limited snaps the rest of the year.

On Friday at Bud Mendenhall Field, the Triton Central senior was 100% ready for his 2022 season debut. Schultz hauled in three touchdown receptions against Cascade to lead the Class 2A, No. 9-ranked Tigers to a 42-14 victory.

“It felt amazing,” said Schultz. “You cannot be upset with three touchdowns in a game but I am definitely not happy. We could have played a lot better.”

That was the overall postgame tone for head coach Tim Able and his Tigers. Cruising to a victory, nearly the entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock, sent the TC fans home happy but the overall lack of execution was troubling knowing there are tougher foes ahead on the schedule.

“As a team, we’ve been practicing a little better lately but if we can keep building off that, we will be in good shape,” said Schultz (photo).

Two of Schultz’s three scoring catches came on fourth-down plays as Cascade had trouble keeping track of the speedster.

Triton Central’s ground game started the scoring Friday night.

Ray Crawford took a handoff from the Cascade 34-yard line and scooted through the line of scrimmage, sidestepped a Cascade linebacker and cut back across the field and streaked to the end zone. The Brogan Winslow extra-point kick was good.

Following another defensive stop, Triton Central quarterback Jace Stuckey moved the Tigers across midfield but an incomplete pass on third-and-15 left the offense stalled at the 29. There were no worries after Stuckey found Schultz deep in the end zone for their first scoring connection of the season.

Cascade’s first scoring drive came after Jayson Kemp intercepted Stuckey, who overthrew a receiver in the middle of the field, and returned the ball to the TC 15.

Cascade all-conference running back Liam Farmer took the handoff from freshman quarterback Brady Trebley and rolled right. The senior stopped and passed to J.T. Roshong, who slipped into the end zone. The two-point conversion run failed and Triton Central’s lead was cut to 14-6.

Stuckey answered back with a pass-heavy drive that moved the ball 60 yards in less than two minutes. The junior quarterback worked a pass quickly to Mason Compton just inside the 10-yard line where the junior avoided a Cadet and raced into the end zone.

The Tigers’ defense stuffed four straight running plays on the next series from their own 13 after a long kickoff return and Stuckey drove the offense 87 yards in another series that ended with Schultz scoring.

Stuckey added a 3-yard scoring run late in the third quarter to his 243-yard passing night that culminated with Schultz’s third touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. He completed 15 of 26 passes with four touchdowns and one interception.

Crawford (photo) finished with 122 yards rushing on 18 carries behind a makeshift offensive line that had some late-week shuffling due to illness and injury.

Schultz had 10 receptions for 153 yards and nearly returned Cascade’s final kickoff of the game for another touchdown before being pushed out of bounds at the Cascade 25.

The statistics are solid.

So is the win.

But there are better teams ahead, including a week two road trip to New Castle for the first ever meeting between the two programs.

“I am not satisfied at all in the overall performance,” said Able. “Our week of practice was not bad but first game of the year, you are going to make mistakes and we made more than our share that an experienced team does not make.”

Triton Central 42, Cascade 14

CA (0-1, 0-1 ICC)   0    6   0   8  --  14

TC (1-0, 1-0 ICC) 14  14   7   7  --  42

First Quarter:

TC – Crawford 34 run (Winslow kick), 6:45

TC – Schultz 29 pass Stuckey (Winslow kick), :56

Second Quarter:

CA -- Roshong 15 pass Farmer (Appleby run failed), 8:29

TC – Compton 9 pass Stuckey (Winslow kick), 6:28

TC – Schultz 9 pass Stuckey (Winslow kick), 1:29

Third Quarter:

TC – Stuckey 4 run (Winslow kick), 2:33

Fourth Quarter:

TC – Schultz 30 pass Stuckey (Winslow kick), 1:52

CA – Weigle 5 run (Farmer pass Weigle), 4:11

First Downs: CA 8, TC 13

Fumbles- Lost: CA 5-2, TC 2-1

Interceptions: CA 1, TC 0

Penalties: CA 5-35, TC 5-35

Rushing: CA 35-182 (Farmer 14-74, Savini 4-64, Mink 3-34, Weigle 2-19, Appleby 5-14, Mason 1-(-2), Sebanc 1-(-3), Trebley 5-(-18); TC 27-128 (Crawford 18-122, Kemper 2-4, Kleeman 1-3, Wilkins 1-(-3), Stuckey 1-(-5), Copeland 1-0, Robertson 1-7).

Passing: CA 4-6-47 (Trebley 3-5-52, Farmer 1-1-15); TC 15-26-243 (Stuckey 15-26-243).

Receiving: CA 4-46 (Weigle 1-13, Farmer 1-18, Roshong 1-15, Howrey 0-1); TC 15-243 (Schultz 10-153, Faust 3-75, Compton 1-9, Crawford 1-6).