Triton football makes too many mistakes, drops first game to Union Pines
Oct. 16, 2026
By: Ben Ellis
Triton football suffered its first loss of the season Friday night in Erwin, falling to Union Pines 34-13 in a battle of the top two teams in the Carolina Pines Conference.
Each team made several mistakes and had a number of penalties, especially in the first half, but the Hawks (7-1, 4-1 CPC) ultimately could not capitalize on enough opposing errors, to which the Vikings (7-1, 5-0 CPC) took advantage.
“I thought we came out fired up, we just didn’t handle adversity well,” said head coach Ben Penny. “We let our emotions get the best of us. Our mistakes started stacking on top of each other, and [Union Pines] is gonna take advantage of that. They’re a good team.”
Each team scored touchdowns on their own second offensive possessions of the game, while Triton’s first missed opportunity came after the Vikings scored another touchdown to go up 13-7. Two 15-yard penalties against Union Pines set up the Hawks deep in opposing territory on their ensuing drive, but an interception by junior quarterback Carson Strickland threw away a golden opportunity to take the lead.
On the next drive, the Vikings were again plagued by penalties, facing 2nd-and-21 from their own 45, but poor tackling by the Hawks allowed quarterback Vida Blue to shake off defenders and run all the way to the endzone for a 55-yard touchdown, putting Union Pines up 20-7.
Triton was forced to punt after another stalled drive that made it into opposing territory, and the Vikings responded with another long touchdown, this an 85-yard pass play on blown coverage to go up 27-7.
The Hawks appeared to have a long touchdown of their own on the next drive, a 55-yard touchdown run by senior running back O’Brian Ward that would have cut the lead in half, but a holding call negated the score, and Triton could not recuperate.
“This game is all about momentum, and that took the air out of us a little bit,” Penny said. “Every time we tried to get something going, it would get called back… You take the wind out of your sails on some momentum killers, and that could be devastating in this game.”
Starting the next drive in Triton territory, the Vikings scored once again just before halftime, a 37-yard screen pass on 3rd-and-15 that went for a touchdown and made the score 34-7.
“[Union Pines] caught the momentum because we were tackling really bad and [they were] breaking those long plays,” Penny said. “There were four plays in the first half that didn’t have to happen. There were three big missed tackles and then a ball coverage right in the middle. You’ve got to say, okay, we correct four things, this is a different ball game.”
Indeed, the Triton defense did adjust in the second half, not allowing Union Pines to score, but the deficit was too much to overcome for the offense, which did not score until the final play of the game to make the final score 34-13.
After starting 7-0 for the first time since 2012, this was certainly Triton’s toughest test of the season thus far against the reigning conference champions. While the Vikings are now in the driver’s seat to win the conference title again, there is plenty left for the Hawks to play for with two rivalry games to finish the regular season against South Johnston and Harnett Central.
“We’ve got to handle adversity better moving forward,” Penny said. “We get a situation like this again, hopefully we can use tonight as a lesson, learn how to deal with our emotions, deal with adversity, and fight till the scoreboard hits zero.”
The Hawks will host South Johnston for Senior Night on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
