By RYAN WALKER
BOURBON — The football season came to a close for Southern Wells Friday night, dropping 61-6 in the second round of the sectional.
The IHSAA’s draw gave the Raiders (0-10) a first-round bye and rewarded them with a long road trip that came up short to a stout Triton Trojans’ (8-3) team.
Southern Wells was outdone by size, strength, speed and roster numbers as it has been most of this season. Triton jumped out to an early 21-0 lead after two interceptions and a fumble stalled decent drives from head coach Blake Blaker’s unit.
The Raiders received the opening kick and went eight plays, converted two fourth down plays and quarterback Trey Slusher looked sharp. But it was the end of the Raiders’ biggest play of the opening drive from Slusher to Leeland Goodnight, who was stripped of the ball and turned it over.
The Trojans took 23 seconds to score on three plays, capping it off on a 31-yard score by Vincent Prater.
Unfortunately, Southern Wells’ drives were identical to the first.
Slusher tried to hit a man deep but was picked off for the first time of the night, and two plays later, the Trojans found the pot of gold in the endzone.
The next drive, Slusher hit receiver Levi Blake on a deep seam route on the far right sideline for 27 yards. Slusher then got another three yards on a throw to Clayton Peterson.
On third and seven from their own 46-yard line, Lyrik Maddox took the ball on what was going to be a reverse, then threw the ball down the field for a trick play that was picked off. Again, it led to another Trojan score.
“Physically, they were just better than us,” Blaker said. “I’d challenge anybody — go watch the film. We had guys in position, we just can’t make the plays because we’re just physically not there. In high school football, you can have the best X’s and O’s, but Jimmy’s and Joe’s are what win you the game, and (Triton’s) Jimmy’s and Joe’s are just across the board — they’re just stronger and faster.”
Offensive rhythm was hard to come by in the second quarter for Southern Wells, falling short on four drives with two punts and another interception. They gained just seven yards in the quarter compared to Triton’s 128 rushing yards on the ground.
The Trojans put together a 27-point second quarter to lift themselves to a 48-0 march with a running clock in the second half.
The Raiders picked up some steam again in the second half.
Slusher used his arm strength to get a 13-yard strike to Peterson on the first possession of the third quarter, thanks to the defense getting a four-and-out stop.
On a later play, wide receiver Joshua Aulbach cut to his right about 10 yards across the field. Slusher hit him right in the chest and Aulbach turned on the jets to the endzone for a touchdown, Raiders for 33 yards for their only points of the night. Aulbach missed the kick, although with a booming arch over the top of the goalposts.
Blaker felt good about the drives his team had throughout the night, and getting into the endzone was a pleasure, but he certainly thought it should have happened before that.
“Yeah, it felt great to get him a score. It felt great not to get shut out. But we should have been doing that all night,” Blaker said. “But we were getting the same looks. We were getting the same things, we just weren’t executing.”
Triton piled on an extra 13 points in the second half and clinched its spot in the sectional final next week at home against North Miami (9-2).
With the loss, the Raiders went 0-10 in Blaker’s first year. The roster numbers went down from last season and the team was not able to retain several senior players from last season.
His offense was implemented and received well by the players, showing signs of improvement in the passing game with Slusher and receivers like Aulbach, Blake, Goodnight and Peterson, who all return next season. But his message was clear after Friday night: his players have to hit the weight room and recruit more athletes to the gridiron to change the culture.
“That’s going to be a big thing for us in the off-season,” Blaker said. “We have to live and die in the weight room and we’ve got to be committed. If we have 30 guys on our team, it’s got to be 20-25 guys in the weight room. If we only have seven guys in the weight room, we’re going to be right back in the same spot next year. It’s going to take a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifice, but that’s what we have to do.”
The Raiders graduate Bryson Williams, Jackson Collins and Quinten Darling. Darling got a handoff at the end of the game and picked up positive yards to end the season.
ryan@news-banner.com
TRITON 61, SOUTHERN WELLS 6
At Triton
Score By Quarters
S. Wells 0 0 6 0 — 6
Triton 21 27 7 6 — 61
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
T—Vincent Prater 31-yard run (Dante Workman kick), 8:02.
T—Workman 18-yard run (Workman kick), 7:07.
T—Ben McFarland20-yard pass to Prater (Workman kick), 2:17.
Second Quarter
T—Ayden Overmyer 35-yard run (Workman kick), 11:05.
T—McFarland 14-yard pass to Tanner Witt-Hoto (Kick failed), 9:26.
T—Overmyer 61-yard run (McFarland kick), 8:11.
T—McFarland one-yard pass to Jaxen Earl (McFarland kick), 3:54.
Third Quarter
SW—Trey Slusher 33-yard pass to Joshua Aulbach (kick failed), 3:38.
T—Ryder Gayheart 17-yard run (McFarland kick), 0:50.
Fourth Quarter
T—Gayheart one-yard run (kick failed), 0:13.
Team Statistics
SW TR
First Downs 9 17
Rushes-Yards 19-42 23-340
Yards Passing 112 59
Passing (C-A-I) 13-23-3 5-7-0
Penalties-Yards 6-40 2-30
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0
Punts-Average 2-21 0-00
Time of Possession 27:50 21:04
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Southern Wells: Trey Slusher 8-40, Levi Blake 3-5, Quinten Darling 1-5, Robby Freimuth 1-4, Leeland Goodnight 2-1, Lyrik Maddox 2-(-11). Triton: Jayden Overmyer 7-156, Vincent Prater 5-82, Ryder Gayheart 4-40, Dante Workman 2-24, Jadyn Prater 3-10, Cayden Bradley 3-12, Connor Stetzel 2-2, Gavin Riffle 1-(-3).
Passing: Southern Wells: Trey Slusher 13-22-2 112, Lyrik Maddox 0-1-1 0. Triton: Ben McFarland 4-5-0 37, Gage Riffle 1-1-0 22, Cayden Bradley 0-1-0 0.
Receiving: Southern Wells: Joshua Aulbach 4-48, Levi Blake 3-43, Clayton Peterson 4-15, Leeland Goodnight 1-10.Triton: Gavin Riffle 1-22, Vincent Prater 1-20, Tanner Witt-Hoto 2-16, Jaxen Earl 1-1.
