Triton football holds on to beat Lee County, improves to 4-0
Sept. 18, 2026
Senior running back Jamarcus Shaw runs through a tackle in Triton football’s 37-34 win over Lee County on Friday, Sept. 18 in Erwin, NC. Photo by Paul Burgett.
By: Ben Ellis
Triton football held on late despite nearly blowing multiple double-digit leads to beat Lee County 37-34 on a rainy Friday night in Erwin, improving to 4-0 for the first time since 2013. The win also marked Triton’s first over Lee County since 1998.
The Hawks (4-0, 1-0 Carolina Pines 6A) jumped out to a 14-0 lead and held a 27-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Yellow Jackets (0-4, 0-1 Carolina Pines 6A) wouldn’t go away, hanging tight until the very end.
Nonetheless, Triton did just enough to secure the win, a momentous win considering the opponent, the undefeated record, and the fact that it was the first conference game of the season.
“Feels good to be 4-0, I’m happy for these guys,” said head coach Ben Penny. “A lot of fight, even through the mistakes — they don’t fall apart in the fight. It’s good to see as a head coach.”
The Hawks couldn’t have asked for a much better start, scoring touchdowns on their first two offensive possessions. Their first drive culminated in a three-yard rushing score by senior running back O’Brian Ward, then the defense got the ball back on the first play of the next Lee County possession with a fumble recovery. With a short field, senior running back Jamarcus Shaw scored from 10 yards out to put the Hawks up 14-0 in the first quarter.
For a moment, it may have seemed like Triton was on its way to a cakewalk considering the polar opposite records of the two teams. But that moment was short-lived as the Yellow Jackets answered with two touchdowns of their own.
Lee County responded with a 28-yard rushing score on its next possession, cutting the lead in half. After the Hawks turned the ball over on downs on their next offensive possession, the Yellow Jackets scored again, this time on a 68-yard pass play to tie the score at 14, where it would remain for the rest of the first half.
Triton opened the second half with a touchdown drive, finished off with a tackle-breaking 37-yard score from Shaw to put the Hawks back up 20-14. The Hawks defense recovered a fumble on the ensuing Lee County possession, which set up the offense to go down the field and score once again on a pile-pushing rush by Shaw, making it 27-14.
“We just had to find a fire, we stopped playing with it for whatever reason,” Penny said on the message to his team at halftime. “When they started coming back and busting big plays, it deflated us a little bit. We responded and came back out and played well.”
The Yellow Jackets opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive, finishing with a 24-yard pass score, but the Hawks responded again with Shaw’s fourth rushing score of the night, this time from 15 yards out to go back up 34-21.
After Lee County scored again on its next possession, the Hawks drove down the field and chewed up some clock, ending the drive with a 22-yard field goal by senior kicker Jared Lopez to essentially put the game out of reach 37-28. The Yellow Jackets scored one more touchdown as time expired, but it was inconsequential as the Hawks held on 37-34.
Once again, the story of the game for the Hawks was the rushing attack as the team finished with a whopping 375 yards on the ground, including 187 and four scores from Shaw. With the wet conditions on the field, it was critical for Triton to establish its presence in the run game, and it did.
“It’s been our identity, and we are strong doing that,” Penny said on the ground game. “Tonight, the passing game wasn’t there early on, then at the end we got it back. We were just gonna run the football until we won the game.”
This game forced Triton to once again adapt to the playing conditions as it has done all season. Despite the rainy conditions and playing against a conference opponent, the Hawks may have bent at times, but ultimately did not break.
“We’ve played in 100-degree weather twice in one week, we’ve played on Monday night, we’ve played on Thursday night, we have been a team that’s been able to adjust, and you have to adjust if you want to be a good football team,” Penny said. “This was our first game in the rain, first game under sloppy conditions, and we came out strong and made that adjustment.”
After briefly enjoying their 4-0 start, the Hawks will turn their attention to a game against another Lee County school next week at Southern Lee on Friday, Sept. 25.
