Triad’s Isaiah Bruce runs around the right end over a Ridgemont defender Friday night. Bruce scored four touchdowns as the Cardinals rolled past the Golden Gophers, 63-2.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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The Triad Cardinals have now matched their victory total of the last two years in the first two games of the 2018 season.
The Cardinals (2-0) won by a 63-2 landslide Friday night when Ridgemont came to town.
With the monkey securely off of head coach Joe Cardinal’s back, all he could say about this game was how proud he is of his players.
“They play so hard and to me that is the biggest compliment you can make for a team is the way they play the game and our guys played the game the right way,” he said.
Playing the game the right way started on the opening kickoff as the Cards kept the Golden Gophers in their own half of the field and held them to only three plays.
The Cardinals wasted no time with the ball as they marched down field.
They put the opening points on the board with a run around the end.
Tyson Brown added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
The Gophers made a push of their own on their second possession of the game. Ridgemont quarterback Troy Cameron lobbed a pass over the shoulder of wide receiver Jonathan Eckstein for a 35-yard gain.
The Cardinal defense, though, was able to stall the drive at midfield where the Gophers were forced to punt.
The kick bounced its way to the 13-yard line where the Cardinals opened their series.
A bad snap sailed over quarterback Isaiah Bruce’s head and out the back of the end zone for a safety.
Up by a 7-2 count, Triad’s defense continued to play lights out. The Cardinals kept the Golden Gophers in front of them, holding them to three-and-out on nearly every possession.
Cardinal said his players’ ability to keep the Gopher offense off the board is all due to his defensive coordinator’s (Justin Louck) ability to come up with a good scheme.
“Coach Louck came up with a great scheme for us,” Cardinal said. “It was based off tendencies and formations that those guys (Ridgemont) gave us and our kids executed his game plan.
“Our kids flew to the football,” he said. “Our goal is to get 11 hats to the football and coach Louck preaches that everyday.”
While the defense did its job to perfection, the offense plugged away at the Gopher defense with great success.
The Cardinals scored on every possession in the first half and used three different quarterbacks to accomplish the task.
Triad’s first and second-team QBs were injured going into the game.
“We were unsure about Logan (McCoy), then we had Isaiah Bruce and Jacob Simonelli,” said Cardinal. “Those guys just made the right reads for the majority of the game.
“They hit guys who were open and took what the defense gave them,” he said. “I’m just super proud of those guys.”
Cardinal eventually settled on using Bruce under center. The move paid off as he went 6-13 and tallied 136 yards and two touchdowns through the air.
Bruce also added another two touchdowns with his feet while adding 29 yards to the Cardinals’ 466 total yards on offense.
“It was just based on what they where giving us,” Cardinal said. “Jacob throws a really good ball and Isaiah is probably the most athletic of the three.
“Based on what they where giving us, Isaiah was probably the best fit for the night.”
Cardinal credited to his big men up front for helping the offense find the end zone with ease.
“I’m not more proud of any other group on the team than I am of that offensive line,” he said. “Those guys go unnoticed in stats, but they are the heart and soul of our football team.”
The Cardinals had the game well in hand by halftime as they took a 49-2 advantage into the locker room.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Cardinals substituted in some of their younger players.
Triad was able to hold the Gophers’ offense to zero total yards of offense, while notching two more touchdowns.
One came on a forced fumble in the end zone and another on an eight-yard run by Justin Overholser to put the score at 63-2.
The victory put the Caridnals at 2-0 as they make the trip to Springfield to take on Catholic Central this Friday.