BYFIELD — Four turnovers and giving host Triton good field position on several occasions hurt the Ipswich High football team last night, which went on the road and fell to the host Vikings, 26-0.
While head coach Ted Flaherty lamented his team's turnovers, he praised the Tigers' defense, which often had to play with their backs against the wall with Triton having such good field position time and again.
"I was very pleased with my defense," Flaherty said, his team now 0-2. "I think we finally found our defensive identity and really contained that offense except for three plays, so to speak. We never gave up and I thought we were hitting really well, tackling well, so the defense was a bright spot.
"Offensively, the way the game unfolded, we turned the ball over and gave their offense a short field and they scored a couple of times," Flaherty added. "We sort of shot ourselves in the foot. We had a penalty on the one nice play we had and then little things here and there.
"With our offense, everything has to be right on. I think we took some bad angles to their backer, and their backers did a really nice job, We're a work in progress and I'm pleased with where we're headed."
One week after snapping a 12-game losing streak, Triton (2-1) limited Ipswich to just 132 total yards. Quarterback Blaise Whitman scored from a yard out early in the first quarter before Ryan Clay picked up an Ipswich fumble and dashed 58 yards to put the Vikes up two scores, 14-0.
Triton would tack on a late score in the first half as Whitman hit Dominic Rovetto on a beautiful hitch and go after a pump-fake for a 37-yard touchdown, 20-0. With 2:26 to go in the game Whitman would pad the stats when Matt Hill caught a short pass in the flat, made a move to the outside and scampered in from 29 yards out to account for the final score.
