Lutheran dominates Triton Central: 'I'll be surprised if they lose a game this season.'

Class A No. 1 Lutheran collected its 33rd consecutive win Friday night, thrashing Class 2A No. 1 Triton Central, 43-13, in a contest that probably wasn't even as close as the lopsided final score might indicate.

It has been an impressive run by the Saints, spanning back-to-back undefeated state championships and giving the school eight sectional titles in nine seasons. But there's really only one record that matters to the 2023 squad: 3-0.

That may come across as simple coach-speak, a cliché meant to convey humility or something along those lines. But it's at the core of this team's mentality and it's been critical to its sustained success. "Those previous teams won those games. We haven't won anything yet," junior Raishaun McHaney said. "We're 3-0. This team is 3-0."

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This group's legacy will be what they accomplish in 2023, coach Dave Pasch added. "We talk a lot about being true to the moment and committed to a purpose, committed to a standard. Long-term, we know where we want to be, and I think that really is the culture we have built here."

McHaney, now a prominent presence with Lutheran's dominant defense, recalls being "beat up" by the seniors as a freshman (in football terms, not literally assaulted). "That changes you," he laughed.

"Yeah, you get built up in this program," continued senior teammate Braydon Hall, the Saints' workhorse of a tailback. "And we never think a team is bad. We always come out here and play to the best of our ability."

The lack of complacency could be seen Friday with Lutheran seizing control within the first few plays and never really relinquishing it, even as it became increasingly obvious the Class A powerhouse was the far superior team.

The defense was incredible, taking away Triton Central's run game entirely (beyond a few quarterback scrambles) and relentlessly pressuring senior quarterback Jace Stuckey, a three-star Eastern Michigan commit, whenever he dropped back to pass. There were no exotic blitz packages or anything special about their approach Friday night, Lutheran senior Braydon Hall said, they "just played Lutheran football."

After trailing 28-6 at half, the Tigers showed signs of life midway through the third quarter with Stuckey connecting on a 44-yard touchdown pass to trim the margin to 22. The visitors sustained that momentum by recovering an onside kick, but an illegal block in the back wiped out a massive gain on third down, then one largely meaningless play later, the Lutheran front line forced Stuckey to scramble on fourth down and tackled him following a minimal gain.

Whatever hopes for a Triton Central miracle were dashed in that moment. A microcosm of the night as a whole.

"Heck, did you look at their size compared to our size?" Triton Central coach Tim Able said. "They have a lot of big kids for a small school. (And those kids) can run, they can tackle, they can block — so yeah, they're a good team."

Hall was the story of the night offensively. The senior running back had more power than the Tigers thought, Able said, and after talking with Lutheran's Pasch, that was clearly by design.

"We really challenged (Hall) this week to be a physical runner," Pasch said. "We know there's a skill set there and really worked with him in practice on being a violent runner. And he really took that to heart. You saw that tonight. He got his pad level down and made some runs he didn't make a week ago. That's improvement."

Indeed.

The Lutheran offensive line opened up some massive holes — see the above observation from Able — but more notable were the number of yards Hall had after contact. He was bulldozing defenders and carrying a few others along as he fought for extra yardage. "We push 2-3 yards, then Braydon's going to get 2-3 more himself," McHaney said of Hall, who logged four touchdowns (three rushing).

LJ Ward also caught two touchdown passes for Lutheran, whose postgame celebration concluded with a word of caution from their head coach: "This is a statement game," Pasch declared. "But here's what you know, you're going to get everyone's best effort the rest of the way."

As for the opposing viewpoint, Able didn't hold back in his expectations for Lutheran: "I'll be surprised if they lose a game this season."

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA football: Lutheran beats Triton Central in matchup of No. 1s