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North Reading deals Triton second straight shutout loss

Friday, September, 14 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

BYFIELD | Until Triton's offense finds itself, there will be nights like last night.

Through three quarters, behind the immense efforts of linebackers Rob West (nine tackles) and Jeff Andrews (seven stops), the Vikings throttled North Reading. But despite two possessions that started in enemy territory, the closest Triton got to scoring was a 30-yard field goal attempt that failed, keeping the game scoreless.

The Hornet attack started to click as the second half progressed and they took advantage of a huge touchdown reception by Robert Rosano early in the final quarter to assert itself. On the other side of the ball, Triton not only couldn't achieve any consistency, but lost quarterback Matt Emerzian to a hard, clean tackle late in the contest. The 14-0 setback, the second suffered so far, left head coach Shawn McElligott frustrated.

"You can't win if you don't execute properly," McElligott said. "At key times, we missed the proper block, dropped passes, made wrong reads. ... We haven't made a play on offense yet."

Triton started a march at the Hornet 30-yard-line due to a nice 17 yard punt return by Will Joy, and moved to the 14 on solid runs from Bill Tindle (27 yards on the night) and Brendan O'Neil (13 yards total). But the drive stalled there on a pair of pass incompletions and the missed 3-pointer.

The running game withered when North Reading discovered that where Viking tackle Jeff Andrews lined up was where the ball was going to be run.

Two other Viking drives were stuffed on a pair of interceptions by Darren Hartwell, another pick by Jonathan Wilson, and a hard shot from lineman Pat Sullivan that resulted in a 13-yard loss.

Success on a North Reading jump ball turned the tide. Quarterback Jimmy Campbell lofted a rainbow from the Triton 33 down the right sidelines and seemingly straight to a Triton defender. But sophomore Rosano closed a 5-yard gap, outleapt the cornerback, grabbed the ball at the 8 and stumbled into the end zone 1<1/2> minutes into fourth quarter play for the eventual deciding score.

After Hartwell's first interception, North Reading ground out a sweet 58-yard march behind running back Joshua Robinson (104 yards), who set the stage for a 2-yard TD tote by Dino Rizzo.

"We didn't make any plays on offense and they made their play," McElligott said. "That's how you win ball games."