RallyNorth.net

Fri, Oct 19, 2007 07:00 PM @ Triton

Team	Final
Wilmington	7
Triton	3

Triton falls short vs. Wilmington

Saturday, October, 20 By John Shimer
Staff writer

They say football is a game of inches, and last night one-win Triton was 36 inches away from knocking off one-loss Wilmington. A fourth quarter touchdown by the Wildcat's all-league running back Ernest Mellow, the only TD of the game, gave Wilmington a 7-3 victory.

Triton looked every bit as formidable in the rain against CAL Large powerhouse Wilmington, twice moving the ball deep into Wildcat territory. The drive that may have cost them was not converting a fourth-and-goal from the two on the Vikings first drive of the game, getting stuffed on the 1-yard for a turnover on downs.

On defense the Vikings looked sharp as well as defensive lineman Jeff Andrews had several key open field tackles on Mellow to stop the Wildcats in their tracks.

After Triton stopped Wilmington for a turnover on downs to open the third quarter, the Vikings took over the ball at their own 40 yard line. A quick holding call on the Wildcats put the Vikes in their opponents territory, but on the next play Bill Tindle took the pitch to the right and fumbled the ball down field. On first glance the referees gave the ball back to Wilmington, but after some discussion amongst the referees Triton got the ball back.

Emerzian took advantage of the Vikings' fortune hooking up with both Brendan O'Neil and Derek Clark for big third down conversions. The Vikes got all the way down to the five yard line before Emerzian was sacked setting up a fourth-and-goal from the 15.

Tied still in a scoreless game, coach Shawn McElligott elected to go for the long 32 yard field into the wind after the Vikings switched to the opposite end of the field on the quarter change. However, the wind and the rain proved to be no match for O'Neil's heroic kick, which just barely split the uprights.

On the next series though Mellow finally got going as he seemed to be the only player on the field able to keep his balance in the pouring rain. Mellow carried the ball seven consecutive times for all 61 yards on the drive before scoring from four yards out.

"It hurt not scoring on that first drive, but I really thought we thought we played well enough to win tonight against one of the best football teams in our conference," McElligott said. "We just didn't quite execute well enough on that one drive that Mellow, a potential player of the year, scored.

"We put a lot on our defense, and Jeffrey (Andrews) really had one of the best games I have seen him play in a Triton uniform," McElligott followed up. "We would have loved to win, but I am extremely proud of our performance."