ROYAL CENTER — The Trojans marched on.

It may have been a loss on the scoreboard, but Triton football earned a kind of moral victory at Pioneer Thursday night. Playing the Hoosier North Athletic Conference game just three days after the loss of junior two-way starter Cameron Scarberry, who was killed in a car accident near Atwood Sunday, the Trojans managed the first score yet this season against No. 1-ranked Pioneer, although they ultimately fell 62-8 to the Panthers in Royal Center.

That Triton touchdown came in the second quarter on a 42-yard pass from Bo Snyder to Delano Shumpert, making it a 21-8 game, but that was as close as the visitors would ever get. Triton threatened again before an interception by Pioneer’s Nate Johnson at the Panther 9-yard line, also in the second period.

Snyder finished 5 of 19 for 98 passing yards with the touchdown and the interception, and the Trojans (4-2, 3-1 HNAC) finished with 190 yards of offense in their first conference loss. The unbeaten Panthers (6-0, 4-0 HNAC) were their usual unstoppable selves, rolling up 513 rushing yards, including 184 yards and three touchdowns by junior Jack Kiser, who needed just seven carries to reach those numbers.

With Scarberry’s viewing scheduled for Friday and his funeral Saturday, Triton players voted to bump the game up to Thursday, and the Panthers accommodated. The Pioneer program went so far as to raise more than $1,000 on a GoFundMe account to help pay for Scarberry’s funeral expenses, reported the Pharos-Tribune. A cash bucket was also passed around the stands Thursday to help raise funds.

Both teams wore No. 54 decals on their helmets in honor of Scarberry, and after a moment of silence to start the game, the scoreboard showed both teams with 54 points and 5.4 seconds on the clock. After the final horn sounded, the Trojans and the Panthers gathered at midfield for a group prayer.

The Trojans return home to play North Judson next week at 7:30 p.m.