Triton’s Jeremy Jones (44) brings down Knox’s Jake Krause on the game’s final play. Jones made his impact on offense as he rushed for 223 yards and three scores in Friday’s win. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

BOURBON – Oh what a night it was for the boys from Bourbon. Triton High School honored the senior members of its football program Friday night and that class of 2015 made the most of its final home game.

Triton played spectacular on both sides of the ball all night to capture a 35-15 win over Northern States Conference foe Knox. The win was the first in NSC play for the Trojans since 2012.

“Our guys played there rear ends off tonight, the entire team,” remarked Triton head coach John Johns. “We had a lot of yards on the ground from big plays, we had a few inconsistencies offensively but we’ll get that stuff fixed. I couldn’t be more proud of the defense, they played their hearts out.”

Head coach John Johns addresses his team following its big win over Knox, Johns’ first conference win at Triton.

“This team has battled all year long. We’ve seen adversity here and there, we’ve seen injuries and stuff like that. So, for us to come out and play a game like this is big. When you put yourself in a good position from playing well defensively, this is the result.”

The Trojans faced a little adversity in the first half as they fell into a 7-0 hole early on after Knox’s Scott Trojan scored on a one-yard run. Triton wouldn’t find the end zone until the second quarter when Joey Corder hauled in a 14-yard pass from Grant Stichter, but a blocked extra-point left Triton trailing 7-6, a score that would hold into the second half.

After talking things over and making some adjustments in the locker room, the Trojans found another gear in the second half. Stichter found Corder for an 11-yard strike to get Triton its first lead of the night, Corder would later extend that lead with a 25-yard field goal. After that, it was the Jeremy Jones show.

Jones scored three times in the fourth quarter on runs of 66, 51 and 89 yards, respectively. The junior finished his night with 223 rushing yards on 21 carries. Triton ran for 310 yards as a team. Stichter completed four passes, two for scores, for 31 yards. While Stichter threw one interception on the night, he made up for the error by picking off two Knox passes on defense. The Trojans forced six turnovers total in Friday night’s win.

Triton students storm the field to congratulate their team on winning the senior class’ final home game.

Following the big win there were plenty of smiles by all of the Trojan players but perhaps not one more noticeable than the one on the face of Stichter.

“This is huge,” Stichter stated. “Coming from a small school, things don’t always go your way. Sometimes we struggled at practice and don’t always get motivated, this week things were different with this being our last home game. We have 11 seniors and we’re all working hard, we’re all working together. That win was huge for us.”

With the win Triton moves to 2-6 this season and 1-5 in NSC contests. Two victories is the most the program has had since the Trojans went 2-8 in 2011. The Trojans will travel north to take on a very tough Jimtown team next weekend to wrap up the regular season.