Tritons Defend the Bank from Salina 51-37

The second meeting of the Tritons and the Liberty at the American Bank Center once again goes in the favor of the Tritons. The final score was 51-37. The Tritons showed again that nobody Robs the Bank, extending their undefeated streak at home. This was a high-scoring battle with flaring tempers until the last second.

Tale of Two Halves

Salina had the energy and production in the first half. They forced a fumble on the Tritons’ first drive and held them to one score for a long time. Clean play and capitalizing on opponent penalties helped them stay in control of the game, and that control would not falter for the first 29 minutes of the half. But in the last drive of the half, with only one minute to go, the Tritons marched down the field to claim a touchdown and two-point conversion, shifting the momentum before halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, Salina thought they were in tight control of things but let the game slip through their fingers, The Tritons stormed out of their locker room and put together a complete drive in the first three plays of the half, tying the game 24-24. Salina was ready to strike back and quickly retook the lead on a handoff to Tracy Brooks. On the Tritons' next drive, Salina’s Thompson Kyle Chandler made a business decision, opting for pass interference instead of giving up a likely touchdown. That set up Fred Payton Jr in the red zone, who delivered to Darius Prince for six. That Prince touchdown marks the point when the Triton’s execution would continue, and the Liberty’s would falter.

Complete Performance from the Tritons

The Tritons won the Week 1 matchup against Salina, but it was not a beautiful performance. They took their notes, went back to the lab, and came out as a more polished team for this one. The offense and defense kept it up for the entire game, but had a fire lit under them for the second half. The defensive line had hands on the QB nearly every play, and QB Fred Payton Jr performed at a level that was magnitudes higher than the first Liberty-Tritons meeting.

Payton’s performance helped show off what might be the best receiving corps in the league. Every receiver had moments of significant impact. The Tritons drew up the same play three times in a row for Quintavius Workman. Three back-to-back goal line fades to the 6’ 7” receiver ended in a touchdown and two-point conversion. Jerron McGaw took over Corpus’s first drive after halftime, driving the ball down the field for 25 yards and a touchdown. Darius Prince took off for 86 total yards and two touchdowns, including an acrobatic catch on a ball thrown behind him and a one-handed catch in the middle of the endzone.

Salina Shoots Themselves in the Foot

Salina’s penalties ended up throttling their effectiveness. Most of the penalties came in the second half when the Tritons kicked it up a notch. Although they did not commit nearly as many penalties as the Tritons, they did so in inopportune moments. Two pass interference calls directly led to touchdowns, and issues with the high-motion man led to longer tries for first down. 

Javin Kilgo had a rough go of it, partly due to constant pressure. He ended up only 11 for 32 (34%) on completions with a lot of those incompletions coming in the second half. Arena Football necessitates putting the ball strictly in a spot only your receiver can reach, and that is exactly how he was attacking the game. However, the precision was lacking, and passes were often overthrown. The incompletions were also up because he often needed to throw the ball away to avoid a sack. Salina was still able to put good points up against a strong defense, but it would be a much closer game if small mistakes were cut out.

Takeaways from the Game

Salina has to make offensive line improvements. They made big moves leading up to this game, restructuring their entire OL/DL. Yet, the Tritons were still able to bring Kilgo down six times. They will not be able to realize their full offensive potential until Kilgo has an extra second to sit in the pocket. We are looking at a limited sample size, and will not know for sure until Salina plays other teams.

The Tritons need to seriously clean up the penalties; they had 14 on the day. They are good enough to play through those penalties on both sides of the ball, but they should not have to. It would be different if they were having issues in a specific area, but it is everywhere: offsides, illegal defense, unsportsmanlike conduct, delay of game, etc. These mistakes will not hold a lot of weight when playing teams like Albany and Billings.

Key Players for Corpus Christi

The Tritons were able to carry over that impactful defensive line that we saw in the season opener. Everybody on the D-line ate on Salina’s watch with six total sacks from Solo Tusa, Reggie Howard, Chase Alisauckus, Daniel Byse, and Torrance Williams. Hopefully someone is buying these guys a nice steak for their back-to-back performances.

On offense, Fred Payton Jr settled in and showed composure through all the pressure that Salina was sending his way. That composure led to a serious improvement from the last game in his decision making and precision. He had 191 yards on 53% completion with five passing touchdowns. He also punched in two rushing touchdowns on the dreaded Corpus Collapse; their version of the Tush Push.

Key Players for Salina

Ed Smith led the way for Salina’s offensive production. He broke out for 117 yards and two touchdowns. He was a reliable target for Javin Kilgo, consistently finding open space for easy completions. On defense, it was all Travis Taylor. He was a formidable force with five solo tackles and a sack.

Salina also had a special teams star: Malik Honeycutt. Honeycutt had multiple returns of 20+ yards, setting up the offense for short trips to the endzone. He even struck paydirt on the final play of the game with a 50+ yard kickoff return touchdown.