Assignment football key for Triton
BOURBON - While pro and college teams are accustomed to a bye week in the middle of the season, it’s much less common in Indiana high school football, but that’s the position that Triton found themselves in a week ago.
Head coach Rodney Younis feels his team took advantage of the break.
“It was a really great week,” he said. “I felt like the kids really engaged. We got some work done and we had some fun. It was a good week for us.”
It also gave he and his staff a chance to do some “in-person” scouting that they took advantage of.
“We made the trip to Fremont and that first half we weren’t sure who we were going to be playing, but in the second half Northfield pulled away,” said Younis. “They are a team that runs the option and we will have to be sure that we are reading our keys and sticking with our assignments.”
Northfield comes into the game with a 7-3 mark, having scored 70 points in their last two games.
“They want to run the ball,” said Younis. “They have a good fullback. They have a good quarterback
that makes good, smart decisions and they have some quickness on their wings. Fortunately we have seen it (the option) a few times this year in our conference. We feel like we have a good game plan going in and it’s just a matter of executing it and making sure that our guys stick
with their assignments.”
His young team has seen growth during the campaign that makes their coach feel good heading to Friday.
“I like where we are at,” said Younis. “We play a lot of young kids and that’s going to help us for the future, but we aren’t quite ready to put up the pads yet. Our kids are anxious to get to work and see what happens come Friday night.”
Playing an HNAC schedule that includes some of the state’s top teams in both 1A and 2A gives the Trojans some confidence.
“We feel pretty good that our schedule has prepared us for this game and we’ll give it our best shot and see what happens,” said Younis.
The keys to moving on are very simple for Triton.
“We have to make sure that we take care of the football. We are a run-first team, but we do want to try to be balanced,” said Younis. “If they are going to give us opportunities to throw the ball we will take advantage of it. The bottom line is that we just have to take care that we have good possessions and if we get in the red zone, score.”
Defensively it’s defend the option.
“It’s going to be assignment football and we have to be sure that we do it play after play,” said Younis. “That’s what option football is designed to do is for you to mess up one time and they break off a big run.”