The frost on the football field signaled the changing of the season and the winter of United South Central’s season.

The Rebels (8-2) were defending their home turf Saturday in the semifinals of the Section 2AA playoffs as the No. 1 seed and were undefeated on that turf, but a turnaround effort by fourth-seeded Triton (7-2) in the second half ended USC’s perfect record at home and its season in a 28-15 victory.

“We have to play two halves and we really didn’t play so good the second half,” said Rebels senior lineman Nick Fure.

The second half was a stark contrast to the first half, which USC controlled. The Rebel defense limited the Cobras to two first downs, one of which came on a penalty.

USC held a 7-0 lead after Riley Swearingen’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Bauman in the second quarter and it looked like the Rebels were on pace to reach the section championship game.

“You know they’re going to come out that second half and make a little adjustment and they did,” said USC head coach Brad Huse. “We just didn’t have enough to hold them off.”

Triton’s Logan Erdmann, who scored three touchdowns Tuesday against New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, erupted in the third quarter for two big touchdowns to give the three-time defending section champion Cobras the lead.

On Triton’s second possession of the game Erdmann broke free for a 25-yard touchdown run to make the game 7-6. After two timeouts and an offsides penalty by USC, the Cobras gave the ball to Erdmann again who scored the two-point conversion to make it an 8-7 game.

It was the first drive of the game that Triton had shown the ability to move the ball and it was only the beginning of how the rest of the second half would unfold.

The Cobras went on to score 20 more points, a 35-yard touchdown reception by Erdmann and two touchdowns from Jason Jennings to overtake the Rebels.

“At halftime we were pretty confident,” said USC senior lineman A.J. Dreyer. “We had held them to minimal rushing yards and they really hadn’t gotten anything in the air. They just wanted it more than us I guess.”

The Rebel defense proved porous in the second half as Triton scored on four of its final five possessions. Two of the possessions were a result of USC turnovers, a fumble following the Cobras’ second touchdown and an interception. The Rebels had three turnovers in the game, including a fumble at Triton’s 9-yard line in the first quarter.

USC scored a cosmetic touchdown with 2 seconds left in the game when Swearingen found William Huper for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

The loss stung for the 14 seniors on the Rebel squad, but after a 2-7 season last year they turned this year into a conference championship season.

“Come Monday morning or Tuesday they’re going to realize what they did was a good thing,” Huse said about the season.

Triton 28, USC 15

Triton 0 0 15 13 — 28

USC 0 7 0 8 — 15

Second Quarter

USC—Bauman 19 pass from Swearingen (Dreyer kick), 3:24.

Third Quarter

Triton—Erdmann 25 run (Erdmann run), 4:03.

Triton—Erdmann 35 pass from Spitzack (Jennings kick), 1:35.

Fourth Quarter

Triton—Jennings 2 run (kick blocked), 11:55.

Triton—Jennings 3 run (Jennings kick), 1:18.

USC—W. Huper 15 pass from Swearingen (Bauman from Swearingen), :02.

Triton USC

First Downs 6 11

Total Net Yards 247 243

Rushes-Yards 41-144 35-71

Passing 103 172

Punt Returns 0-0 0-0

Kickoff Returns 2-35 2-35

Interception Ret. 1-0 0-0

Comp-Att-Int 4-8-0 11-27-1

Sacked-Yards Lost NA 2-(minus 14)

Punts 5-34.4 4-33.7

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2

Penalties-Yards 7-45 5-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—United South Central, Swearingen 18-20, Morton 9-33, Wood 5-17.

PASSING—United South Central, Swearingen 11-27-1-172.

RECEIVING—United South Central, Bauman 3-51, Wood 3-36, Lackey 2-45, Huper 2-27, Morton 1-13.