The Triad football team fell to 1-1 Friday night after a disheartening 27-20 loss to OHC rival West Liberty-Salem.
It all came from too many mistakes, according to head coach Dylan Wears.
“Our guys played hard, they played till the very end,” he said. “They played physical and made some big plays, but
unfortunately we made one too many mistakes.”
The majority of the Cardinals’ miscues came off special teams problems that eventually led to West Liberty points.
Wears said the mistakes were a major factor.
“I would say it (special teams) was the largest factor in us losing the game,” Wears said. “We can’t beat ourselves, we
have to make the other team beat us.”
Although the mistakes were costly, the Cardinal offense got things done through the ground and air.
Triad opened the game with the ball and worked down into Tiger territory before the drive stalled.
Still, Triad put the first points on the board when Jackson Cordell found some space in the secondary and ran for a 65-
yard touchdown.
Tyson Brown added the PAT to give Triad a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Cardinals’ defense kept the Tiger offense in check and held onto the 7-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
Triad ran into its first bout of special teams blunders in the second quarter.
A high snap on fourth down sailed over punter Batai Lease’s head. He attempted to make some forward progress with
his feet, but the Tigers took over control deep in Cardinal country.
West Liberty made quick work of the short field and found the end zone after six plays.
Nick Burden scored on a five-yard run.
Christian Griffith kicked the PAT to tie the game at 7-7 in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
The two sides shared defensive blows during the majority of the second stanza.
Triad made its second special teams mistake when another high snap sailed over Lease’s head.
West Liberty took over on the Cardinals 36-yard line.
With time running thin, Griffith threw a 29-yard strike to wide out Dylan Glun, who was pushed out of bounds at the one-
yard line.
Isaiah McGill finished off the drive with a run up the middle.
Griffith pushed his kick wide on the point after attempt, but the Tigers held a 13-7 lead with only 40 seconds left in the
second quarter.
The two sides traded punts throughout the third quarter until the Cardinals started to make some headway.
Wears called nine consecutive runs that allowed Triad to work the ball down to the Tiger’s three-yard line.
A holding flag pushed Triad back to the 13-yard line, but Wears switched his play calling to an air attack.
Quarterback Coleman Hauck threw two quick passes to Lease and the Cardinals found their second TD to open the
final stanza.
A blocked PAT tied the game at 13-13 with 10:44 left to play.
West Liberty quickly return the favor with a 51-yard drive on eight plays. The series ended with an 11-yard pass from
Griffith to Jake Wilcoxon for another TD.
Griffith booted the PAT to give West Liberty a 20-13 lead.
Triad bobbled the kick return and gave the ball back to West Liberty at the Triad 15-yard line.
WLS ran three plays and tallied its final touchdown.
Griffith added the PAT to give West Liberty a 27-13 lead.
With time running out, the Cardinals launched into an all-out attack.
Triad ran through, around and over top of the Tiger defense to work the ball to midfield.
Several penalties stalled the drive, but Hauck came up big on a long third down when he hit Ayen Sanford at the West
Liberty 27-yard line.
The pass reignited the drive as Hauck connected on a few passes to Lease before keeping the ball for himself on his
way to the end zone.
Brown sailed his kick through the uprights to pull the Cards to within 27-20 with less than a minute left on the clock.
The Cardinals attempted an unsuccessful on-side kick before the Tigers went into their victory formation to seal the
win.
Triad will travel to Mechanicsburg on Friday.