FAIRLAND – Class 2A, No. 9 North Posey ran roughshod on 2A No. 2 Triton Central Friday and captured its first regional title since 2005 with a 28-13 victory at Bud Mendenhall Field.
The Vikings, now 12-1, wasted little time getting to work after a three-hour bus ride north to central Indiana. Senior Kolton Gardner broke loose for a 51-yard touchdown run on North Posey’s first possession and senior quarterback Liam Stone finished off the next two drives with short scoring runs.
“They are a very physical team. A very strong team,” said Triton Central head coach Tim Able. “We are more of a speed team and a skill team and they were just better than us tonight.”
Triton Central finished the season 11-2 and played in its fifth-straight regional championship game. And while the Vikings found the end zone on its first three possessions, Triton Central’s first two drives ended with failed fourth-down conversion attempts.
“We just didn’t execute,” said Able. “We just didn’t hit things that we normally do. And as we knew going into the game, they held on to the ball so long that we didn’t get it much.”
Triton Central cut North Posey’s lead to 14-7 with a 9-play scoring drive that culminated with a Ray Crawford 2-yard touchdown. But the Vikings answered with a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Stone’s second of three touchdown runs in the game.
North Posey rushed the ball 54 times for 305 yards and four touchdowns. Stone only put the ball in the air five times with one completion for 24 yards. On the ground, he had a game-high 24 carries for 113 yards.
“Their quarterback is hard to tackle,” said Able. “He is wiry strong. He is not very big but it took some good hits and good wraps to get him down. They have enough mixture in their offense that we weren’t able to physically control them.”
Gardner finished the game with 105 rushing yards on 16 carries while junior Jed Galvin, who scored all five touchdowns in North Posey’s sectional championship game win over Paoli, had 87 yards on 14 carries.
Crawford (photo) led Triton Central with 87 yards rushing in his final game as a Tiger.
Jace Stuckey closed out his record-breaking career with 149 yards passing and one touchdown – a late 38-yarder to Sam Kemper.
While the loss was emotional enough, the Tigers watched junior Ben Wilkins (photo) carried off the field on a backboard after suffering a second-half injury on North Posey’s final kickoff of the game. His facemask and helmet were carefully removed and his neck was stabilized as a precaution.
“He is alright. He is moving. He will be alright,” confirmed Able after the game.
Triton Central also lost sophomore receiver/defensive back Zeke Robertson early in the contest with an ankle injury and defensive back/kicker Levi Dewey was injured midway through the second quarter. Neither returned to the game.
Triton Central’s senior class closed out their careers with a program-record 39 victories and four sectional titles. A large part of that class includes skill position players like Stuckey, Crawford, Dewey, Brayden Wilkins, Mason Compton and Sam Kemper.
“It’s a class that had a lot of talent at the skill levels,” said Able. “Those are really good athletes. We’ve had something similar like that but it takes a team. (North Posey’s) line of scrimmage was bigger and better on both sides. We are young on the line of scrimmage and we are going to be back and we are going to get stronger.”
Get the most recent Shelby County Post headlines delivered to your email. Go to shelbycountypost.com and click on the free daily email signup link at the top of the page.
