Tritons hold off Rice Lake 28-20, punch ticket to next round

GREEN BAY — The Notre Dame Academy Tritons secured the Sectional Champion title with their 28-20 victory over Rice Lake. 

For the defending State Champion Tritons, this win was particularly meaningful after being knocked out by Rice Lake in 2023. 

“It feels phenomenal. We had some sophomores in college from the team that lost to Rice Lake that have texted us and said ‘Go get ‘em boys, you’ve got to get this win for us,’ and it feels amazing to go and get it back for them. This win was for them,” said Tritons Runningback Kingston Allen. “We appreciate the win but we’ve still got some stuff to clean up. We didn’t play a complete game but we got it going tonight and we got the win.”

Allen secured the first touchdown of the game with 7:53 remaining in the first quarter to bring the Tritons out to a 7-0 lead. 

With 9:47 left in the second quarter, Rice Lake found the end zone but failed to convert on the two-point attempt with just under 10 minutes until the half. 

Two minutes later, Allen found the end zone for the second time to bring the score to 14-6. 

As the second quarter became the highest scoring of the game, Rice Lake’s Will Svendsen put up another 6 points for his team, though they again were stopped by the Triton defense on the two-point attempt. 

Allen found the third touchdown of the night for his team with a 64-yard run that brought the score to 21-12 with 3:30 until the half. 

After the Tritons’ Alex Ciak came up with a big stop on Rice Lake’s third and long, a bobbled snap on Rice Lake’s special teams gave the Tritons possession at the 26-yard line. 

Allen put up what would be the Tritons’ final touchdown of the game just before the half, bringing the score to 28-12. 

The lone score of the second half came early in the third when Rice Lake put up 8-points to bring the score to 28-20. 

The Tritons defense kept them ahead when Rice Lake found themselves in the red zone but a fumble was recovered by the Tritons.

With less than two minutes on the clock, the Tritons put the game away when a fumbled punt return was recovered by NDA’s Jack Whitehouse. 

“We lean a lot on the run. We don’t have many other assets that we lean on as heavily as the run because we are so great at it. We’re not going to do something that we’re not phenomenal at,” said Allen. “Tonight you got to see us rely on our special teams and rely on our defense — we got two fumble recoveries. It was a great way to finish the game but we still have some stuff to clean up on offense and defense.” 

While the Tritons will advance to take on River Falls in the State Qualifier, the West De Pere Phantoms also won their Sectional Final matchup against Union Grove, 42-14, bringing the possibility of a local matchup at the State Tournament one step closer. 

“West De Pere is a great team and we know that. We can match up with a great in-area team and that’s what we’re going to do. If we can get the win there, that’s going to be phenomenal, but knowing that the team is so local to us is going to have such a home-centered feeling when we play them and that feels great,” said Allen.