Tritons have much work to do
The Mariner Tritons learned more than a few things about themselves during Saturday’s spring football classic game at Tony McKenna Field. Some good. Some not so good. And some disturbing.
“We did a lot of ugly things tonight,” Tritons coach Chad O’Brien said after the 31-21 loss to Lemon Bay. “We made a lot of silly penalties (offsides, false starts) and displayed a ‘me-first’ attitude. We’re going to address these throughout the summer.”
O’Brien considers attitude the worst of the offenses he saw.
“I did not see bad attitudes throughout (spring) practice,” he said. “I don’t know where it came from, but when some guys got out here in front of the crowd, under the lights, something happened. It must stop.”
Freshmen played the first quarter followed by the varsity squad for the final three periods. The Tritons freshmen fumbled the ball away four times and were outscored 19-0.
The varsity struggled early on both sides of the ball.
“I think the varsity lost their intensity sitting out the first quarter,” said O’Brien. “In the future I likely would prefer the freshmen play the last quarter.”
The Tritons’ defense gave up more than 350 rushing yards to the Manta Rays’ wing-T offense, with 107 of that coming on two long touchdown runs by Andrew Schulte, who finished with 185 yards and four TDs.
As the evening progressed, the Tritons started solving the wing-T’s misdirection.
“It’s a matter of toughness,” said O’Brien. “We gotta get tougher. Our offense showed it can put up some points, but it comes down to blocking and tackling. If you don’t block and tackle well you won’t win football games.”
Defensive players who set themselves apart included sophomore Braxton Hobbs, and junior linebackers Jacob Whiteside and Kenny Moore, and junior cornerback George Ruesca.
“We did not do well in our containment and our tackling,” said Ruesca. “We have to focus more on wrapping up if we want to succeed.”
Lemon Bay threw just one pass on the night, which was intercepted by cornerback Chaston Carter.
The Tritons’ young offense performed much better than its counterpart, showing flashes of a potentially explosive offense.
“The offense produced. I was happy with the play of our quarterback, J.T. Etnoyer,” O’Brien said. “Donovan McAmis ran the ball real well for us, and Tyler Pigott provided a spark in the passing and rushing games.”
Etnoyer and McAmis are both returning starters and will be juniors in the fall. Etnoyer led the offense down the field with some nice passes in the last two minutes of the first half, including a 25-yard strike to Pigott on fourth-and-10, then scored from five yards out on an option keeper.
The Tritons scored on a three-play drive in the third quarter with sophomore Andrew Torres at quarterback. Torres broke a 40-yard run on the second play from scrimmage and McAmis displayed some power running through the Rays defense on the final 39-yard TD run.
Pigott accounted for 79 total yards and the Tritons’ final touchdown, an 11-yard quick screen from Etnoyer.
Ruesca reeled off the Tritons’ longest play from scrimmage, a 52-yard catch and run in the closing minutes as they drove into the Red Zone with the clock running out. Time expired with the Tritons on Lemon Bay’s 15-yard line.
Spring football continues this week with Bishop Verot hosting Port Charlotte Thursday night.
Island Coast and North Fort Myers are at home Friday while Ida Baker and Cape Coral play road games.
Lemon Bay (19) 13 12 6 – 31
Mariner (0) 6 7 8 – 21
Second Quarter
LB – Schulte 1 run (kick blocked)
LB – Schulte 32 run (Ward kick)
M – Etnoyer 5 run (kick blocked)
Third Quarter
LB – Schulte 75 run (kick failed)
LB – Schulte 5 run (kick failed)
M – McAmis 39 yard run (Rincon kick)
Fourth Quarter
LB – Taylor 7 run (kick failed)
M – Pigott 11 pass from Etnoyer (King pass from Etnoyer)
Kenneth Bores contributed to this report.