Class 2A, No. 2 Triton Central put five touchdowns on the scoreboard in the opening half Friday at Mendenhall Field and cruised to a 38-14 victory that leaves the Tigers all alone in second place in the Indiana Crossroads Conference standings.
“It was a good first half … but not great,” said TC head coach Tim Able, now 96-36 in his 11th season in Fairland. “We had some opportunities early offensively. They drove it on us a couple of times then gave us tough field position but once we got rolling on offense we did pretty good.”
Levi Dewey (photo) sparked the Senior Night crowd in attendance with a 48-yard punt return for a touchdown after Scecina’s first drive netted only one first down. The senior accounted for 14 points in the game with the touchdown return, five successful extra-point kicks and a late field goal.
After a second drive stalled for Scecina (4-3, 2-2 ICC), Triton Central started at the Crusaders’ 42 and Jace Stuckey collected his first of three touchdown passes in the win, connecting with freshman Henry Kemper for a short catch and run 22 yards to make it 14-0.
That was the start of five straight scoring possessions that enabled Triton Central (6-1, 4-1 ICC) to use a running clock in the second half to finish off the Crusaders.
Stuckey added scoring strikes of 16 yards to Brayden Wilkins and 15 yards to Mason Compton (photo) and a 17-yard scoring run – all in the second quarter. But it was the next to last play before halftime that saw Stuckey take a low hit along the sideline that left him injured.
“Jace ran the ball too much tonight,” said Able. “He wanted to run it all week. I tried to back him off, but he has to run but he also needs to know when to get down and he didn’t quite do that tonight.”
Stuckey sat out the second half and walked with a noticeable limp while on the sideline. The senior finished with a team-high 104 yards rushing and just seven passes total for 96 yards.
Wilkins finished just short of 100 yards of offense with 50 yards rushing and 48 yards receiving. Kemper (photo) had 43 yards on seven carries – all in the first half.
“He is a good receiver, long and lean but still a freshman that is not as strong as he will be,” said Able of Kemper, who started for the injured Ray Crawford in the backfield. “With his height and leverage, he did a pretty good job and always fell forward with the ball. That’s the most important thing. He just gave us another threat.”
Scecina had just under 100 yards of offense in the first half as quarterback David Mendez completed only six passes and threw an interception.
Scecina scored touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half but the running clock proved to be Triton Central’s ally.
Quarterback Sam Collier (photo) got invaluable experience, completing 5 of 6 pass attempts for 63 yards in place of Stuckey. He drove the offense down the field after the Crusaders scored their second touchdown to set up Dewey’s 20 yard field goal inside the game’s final two minutes.
Triton Central is on the road for the final two weeks of the regular season. The Tigers travel to Beech Grove (3-4, 2-4 ICC), a 62-20 winner over Ritter Friday, and then to Speedway (2-5, 0-4 ICC) for the regular-season finale.
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