Knights drop final regular season game, narrowly miss playoffs
By Ray Popkess
Of the two teams Triad competed against this season that wear purple, both games began and ended in similar fashion.
Much like week six against Mascoutah, the Knights’ opponent, this time the Collinsville Kahoks, opened the scoring first but an errant extra point attempt gave Triad an opportunity to take the lead.
Triad’s first opportunity to score came early in the second quarter. A field goal attempt from the left hash was all the Knights could muster at first but the ball sailed just wide of the right upright.
Stifling defense has been the name of the game all year for the Knights, as they took back some momentum with a fourth down sack on the following drive.
Combined runs of Brody Mriscin, John Holloway and Jacob Odle got the Knights near the redzone on the next possession. Odle then took a handoff at the 22-yard line and broke three tackles before jogging across the goal line for his ninth touchdown of the season.
Junior Kannon Seipp eyes up his pre-snap keys on defense.
The Kahoks secured a halftime lead on a deep pass the following drive that turned into a late field goal. Triad ate up a good chunk of time with their final possession of the first half, but a Hail Mary near the endzone was intercepted as time expired.
Almost impossibly, even better defense was played by both sides in the second half. Both teams exchanged a flurry of punts in the third quarter, making the fourth quarter more dramatic.
Senior Mason Preist (#21) and Senior Gavin Dobbs (#42) wrap up Kahok running back Lazarion Steward on fourth down.
Collinsville attempted to run the ball as many times as it took to put the game out of reach near the start of the fourth quarter but a goal line stand from the Knights gave Triad the momentum right back.
With Holloway taking the snap in his own endzone, the Kahok defense applied fast pressure and forced another interception and didn’t have to go far to make points out of it.
Triad got the ball back twice more after this turnover, but couldn’t make the score any closer. With a final of 16-7, Collinsville and Triad both ended with 4-5 records on the season.
The IHSA State Playoff bracket has been set, and playoff games will commence this weekend, with State Final games set to take place the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
It’s a real shame they scrapped the Triple Option – never missed the playoffs running a Navy style offense. Also, congrats on the graduation to the SWC, Edwardsville is about to feast on these little lambs. Better get Coach Bassler’s headset out of storage to salvage any chance of a playoff appearance in the next decade.
Can’t even leave a name on this comment hiding behind a screen
“Hey Anonymous, why are you commenting anonymously?” – Anonymous
Leave Him alone because he changing it for the better because we to change to keep up with different defenses. “Anonymous ” don’t ever mention that around this program. He doing his best every year.
I guess “Defenses” didn’t change from 2001 to 2022? Playoff appearances: ’01, ’02, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’22. The Triple Option is more than a formation or a play concept, it is an Identity. Troy, Triad, and the Triple Option. The Holy Trinity, and Coach Bassler was our Lord & Savior.
For a lot of those playoff years, Triad had a dominant defense. Take a look at Triad’s record of the years you left out: defense was non-existent. When the triple option works best, the opponent gets less than their average amount of possessions in a game. Run the ball = eating the clock, so you either score quickly on offense and trust the defense, or you rely entirely on your defense to set up scoring opportunities. And yeah, making the playoffs out of the MVC with 5+ wins is fun, but you know what isn’t fun? getting bounced in the first or second round in every one of those years you mentioned. I love Coach Bassler, and he’s a tremendous pillar of the community. But football is evolving fast, and so should every coach’s playbook.
– Ray
The Triple Option was a prolific scoring threat in its heyday. ‘04 the team scored 32+ in 8 of 9 games, ‘05 27+ in 8 of 9 games, ‘06 28+ in 8 of 9 games, ‘08 27+ in all games. This new offense only scored more than 17 points in three games this season. Football is a team sport, when the offense struggles the defense has an immense amount of pressure on it. Triad’s identity was dominating both sides of the ball.
I would argue making the playoffs and winning a game or two is more fun than sitting at home in November. The new offense is not working in the third year, novelty has worn off and we have no identity.