After losing to Texas Lutheran University last week, the Tiger football team returned home to win their game against Sul Ross State University on Saturday afternoon, 33-6. This leaves the Tigers at 2-1 for their season standing while Sul Ross currently stands at 0-3. Last year’s game was the first time since 1981 that the two teams have met. Trinity

The only scoring play of the Tigers’ first half was made by junior wide receiver Matthew Kennemer, who connected on a 28-yard field goal. This put the Tigers on the board first, although they had minimal yardage during the first two quarters.

“It was a slow first half. We had a lot of drives that ended prematurely, but we basically came together, made halftime readjustments, and went back to score right away,” said sophomore quarterback Stephen Smith.

This was Smith’s first time starting for the Tigers. He also led the team with 273 passing yards and made the first touchdown midway through the third quarter. Trinity’s defense then came up with a blocked punt for a safety. Following a 40-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers scored on the next play from scrimmage from 35 yards out.

Trinity’s defense forced four turnovers in the game, recorded a safety on the blocked punt and returned an interception for a touchdown for the last points of the day. The Tiger defense was toughest near the goal line, stopping two drives inside their own 10-yard line. On defense, Connor Yorloff led the game with 15 tackles, and Garrett Jennings finished with 10 stops to go with two pass breakups. Tomy Boboy had a blocked punt and a safety, and recorded one of two sacks on the day for the Tigers. Wyatt Tiffany also had a sack and four quarterback hurries.

“The thing that we focused on this week was finishing. We played a full four quarters. Our defense showed up big time in this game,” Kennemer  said.

The Tigers swept this week’s SCAC Player of the Week awards. Smith took the offensive award. Boboy took the defensive award, and Kennemer took the special teams award.

“Offensively, our strength was our passing game. More consistency is what we need. As of right now, no, we’re not where we had hoped. Now, looking into the future, we would rather be the team that went 9-1 that should have been 10-0; that way, we can look at the TLU conference game as a fluke,” Kennemer said. “If we focused on that game all the rest of the season, then I don’t think it’ll turn out the way we want.”

Looking forward to next weekend, the Tigers will be playing Austin College on Saturday at home.