Triton shuts out Southern Wayne

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on September 22, 2012 11:22 PM

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DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne knew it would take a near-perfect effort on Friday night to drop Triton from the ranks of the unbeaten.

The Saints appeared to be on the upset trail early, but faltered in the second half as the Hawks rallied for a 21-0 victory in Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference play.

"I thought we played about as well defensively as we have played all season in the first half," Southern Wayne head coach David Lee said. "We contained their ground game and we avoided big plays."

The game flew by as both teams tried in vain to run the football in the opening half. Triton appeared to get on the board in the second quarter when quarterback Maurice McBryde hit Dedrick Stacker for a touchdown pass, but the play was called back by a penalty.

Southern Wayne took advantage and forced the Hawks to punt before taking a knee to kill the clock.

The Saints (1-4 overall, 0-1 ECC) ran 11 offensive plays in the first half and tallied just 12 yards. Triton was not much better with 44 yards.

"Triton has a very good offensive line and I thought we did a nice job of neutralizing them," Lee said. "We were able to get penetration and make plays behind the line of scrimmage."

The Hawks (6-0, 2-0) got their offense going in the third quarter.

On the visitor's first possession of the third quarter, McBryde kept the ball on the option and raced 30 yards to the end zone. Following a Southern Wayne three-and-out, the visitors again found pay dirt when Brandon McLean broke free for a 54-yard touchdown that made the score 14-0.

The Hawks capped the scoring early in the fourth quarter when Keith Milton scooped up a Saints fumble and rumbled 20 yards for a touchdown.

"Two big plays on defense and one turnover on offense is really all we gave up," Lee said. "Other than that I was really pleased with the kids' effort and I thought they were in it the whole game."

Maurice Coley led the Saints with 28 yards rushing on five carries. Andrew Matthews added 24 yards on nine totes. The Saints did not complete a pass and finished with just 50 yards of total offense.

Southern Wayne travels to Cleveland next week.