Knox’s Chris Burns pressures Triton quarterback Bo Snyder during the second quarter of a Hoosier North Athletic Conference game at Community Field in Knox Friday. (Photos by James Costello)

KNOX — There wasn’t a whole lot for Triton to celebrate in Friday night’s Hoosier North Athletic Conference showdown at Knox.

The Trojans did show some fight with a score late in the fourth, but the game had long been out of reach, and Triton suffered a lopsided 35-7 loss to the host Redskins at Community Field.

“I still have my leaders. They’re still coming up, and they’re still playing every single down. The problem was we stopped reading our keys because for some reason we lost faith in the plan,” said Triton head coach Ron Brown. “My positives are we didn’t quit. My big negative is we forgot to read our keys, and if we’re taking a test in school and we forget to put the right answers down, we fail. And that’s what happened right here.”

Max Slusser runs the ball for Triton while Delano Shumpert blocks Knox’s Kooper Broeker Friday.

The Trojans (5-3, 4-2 HNAC) turned the ball over three times in Knox — twice on interceptions and once on a lost fumble, one of three fumbles by the Trojans at the game — although the Redskins (7-1, 5-1 HNAC) converted just one into a score when Luke Tolson found paydirt on a 32-yard pick six at the 10:58 stop of the second quarter to push Knox’s lead to 14-0 with Kooper Broeker’s two-point conversion run around the left side.

Triton did win the ball back following quarterback Bo Snyder’s second interception of the period — a Broeker pick at the Knox 35 — when Max Slusser returned the favor intercepting Broeker at the 3:33 stop of the quarter. The Trojans marched it back into Knox territory for the first time but ultimately ran out of clock as the halftime horn sounded on a 21-0 Redskins lead.

Those two interceptions did little to help a Triton offense already struggling to move the chains in the first half with just four first downs before the intermission, however.

“Turnovers suck. When you give the other team more opportunities, nothing good is going to happen,” said Brown. “I felt good about the defense in the first half. We got put in some bad field position, and they were able to get an easy touchdown. That first series, though, I think it took, 11, 12 plays to go down against a power run team. That to me is good defense if you can answer back later. We weren’t able to do that, and it was because we didn’t do the fundamentals right so we’re going to go back and work on the fundamentals.”

The Trojans were out-gained 240 total offensive yards to 174, and 65 of those yards came with the game well out of reach on the visitors’ final possession of the night, a seven-play scoring drive capped off by Slusser’s 2-yard TD plunge. Triton was a little better through the air as Snyder connected on 7 of 15 passes for 76 yards compared to a 6-of-10, 54-yard passing performance by Broeker.

But Knox pretty much dominated the line of scrimmage, piling up 186 rushing yards to Triton’s 98, led by 88 yards in 14 rushes from fullback Dawson Patrick, who gave the Redskins their first touchdown of the night on a 5-yarder at the 6:30 mark of the first period. That dominance in the run game translated into a lopsided time of possession advantage by the hosts, who held the ball for more than 24-and-a-half minutes opposite Triton.

“I wouldn’t say that one single player stands out. Obviously their fullback is a monster to get down, but their line works together,” explained Brown. “That’s the deal — everyone works together as one unit so they actually literally create a wall, and they’re able to snowplow you out of the way. If you’re not able to defeat that with your fundamentals and your techniques, then they’re going to be able to do that all night. That’s what happened.”

It was a disappointing loss for Triton, which rebounded from the tragic death of junior two-way starter Cameron Scarberry and a 62-8 rout by No. 1-rated Pioneer with a convincing 36-8 win over North Judson-San Pierre last week. The Trojans entered Friday’s game tied with Knox for second place in the Hoosier North Athletic Conference standings at 4-1 but slipped to third place in the HNAC with the loss. They’ll close both conference play and the regular season at Winamac next Friday.

Ethan Berry runs the ball back for Triton Friday night.

“We’re the best that you can be. Our kids are resilient. They’re still playing with passion even though they made errors tonight. They’re trying to represent Cam in a positive way, and that’s what makes this even a little bit harder,” said Brown. “We have some goals that Cam wanted to achieve, and we’re trying to achieve those goals. We’re going to do what we can to get those done.”

Slusser led Triton on both sides of the ball Friday with 61 yards and a score in 16 rushes, seven tackles and an interception. Ethan Berry recorded 31 rushing yards on eight runs, hauled in a 4-yard catch and recorded 11 yards on three kickoff returns, while Tye Orsund recorded 40 receiving yards on two catches and 14 kickoff return yards, and Delano Shumpert finished with three catches worth 22 yards.

Jared Prater recorded 24 yards on three catches for the Redskins, meanwhile, and Broeker ran for two touchdowns and 16 yards. Knox plays at Caston next week.