Trailing by 9-6, Eastern faced a third and 10 from its 11-yard line. Taliaferro caught a screen pass from Andrew Dawson and sped 16 yards for a first down. Triton also was penalized 15 yards for a late hit.
The next play was vintage Taliaferro. He took a pitch and was pinned in by two defenders. He then stutter-stepped and froze the defenders, split through them, received a good downfield block from Darryl Scott, and scored on a 58-yard touchdown to give Eastern a 13-9 lead with 6 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third quarter.
``I had a tough first half and knew I had to make something happen,'' Taliaferro said. ``Nothing went right in the first half.''
Triton also was hurt by four second-half turnovers. The most costly came when Eastern cornerback Clint Hicks scored on a 19-yard interception return with 9:02 left in the game.
Taliaferro, who ended with 64 yards on 11 carries, scored on a 6-yard run two plays after a Triton fumble, extending the lead to 27-10 with 5:18 left.
In the final minute, Triton's Sean McBride scored on a 1-yard run, his second touchdown of the game.
The Vikings also received a big game from Dawson, who ran the option almost to perfection. The senior completed 6 of 7 passes for 73 yards, and ran for 74 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries.
Eastern scored on the game's first drive, when Dawson broke three tackles en route to a 39-yard touchdown run on an option play.
Mike Eckmeyer, Triton's active safety, set up the Mustangs' first score by recovering a fumble on a bad pitch at the Eastern 22. Four plays later, McBride, following the lead block of Domenic Tomeo, scored from the 2 to tie the score, 6-6, with 3:26 left in the first quarter.
Eastern's third turnover set up Triton's final points of the half. Taliaferro was hammered while fielding a punt and fumbled. The Mustangs recovered at the Vikings' 49. Ryan Anton connected on a 28-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
Eastern came out a different team after halftime.
``The coaches let us have it at halftime, and we deserved it,'' Taliaferro said. ``We really picked it up in the second half.''
