Saturday night at Trinity was football night as the No. 5 Trinity Tigers took on the No. 12 Mary-Hardin Baylor (UMHB) Crusaders. It was a game that saw all sorts of twists and turns, but ultimately saw the Tigers prevail 35-16.
Both teams came into Saturday 0-1, losing their first games on the road and hungry for a win in San Antonio. As if being 0-1 wasn’t enough motivation, these two squads have met in the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, with the Crusaders winning both of those games.
Trinity got the ball first and struck quickly. Super senior quarterback Tucker Horn executed a near-flawless drive to march Trinity right down the field. A touchdown toss from Horn to fellow super senior Ethan Boyer capped off the drive and gave the Tigers an early 7-0 lead.
After the defense forced a punt, the Tigers were able to execute another scoring drive. This one was led by the rushing attack and senior running back Legend Grigsby, who scampered 45 yards for the game’s second touchdown. This drive put the Tigers up 14-0 with just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
However, UMHB was not out of the game yet, as they walked right down the field for a touchdown to slice the deficit in half. It was Trinity’s turn to answer, and they did, once again through the air. Horn threw a perfect pass to the corner of the endzone, where senior wide receiver Cole Manago had his out-stretched arms waiting. The play would result in a 28-yard touchdown as the Tigers took back their two-touchdown lead.
After a UMHB field goal that made the score 21-10, UMHB blocked a Trinity punt and took the ball just 14 yards away from the Tiger endzone. However, the Trinity defense responded in a big way as super senior linebacker Caleb Harmel intercepted UMHB quarterback Isaac Phe on the first play of the drive. This gave Trinity the ball right back and assured the blocked punt would not result in any UMHB points.
Both teams eventually jogged to the locker room for halftime with the score at 21-16, as UMHB got a touchdown right before the half ended. It was a strong half for Trinity, but the score was still close with UMHB still within striking distance.
The second half started slowly, with not much action in the first five minutes. However, all that changed when Caleb Harmel recorded his second interception of the game, giving the Tigers the ball at the UMHB 22-yard line. The ups and downs would continue though, as Trinity missed a field goal off the right upright, squandering their golden ticket at points.
However, the Tigers would get another chance deep in UMHB territory courtesy of the special teams unit, as super senior linebacker Cade Rabson blocked a UMHB punt. This time, Trinity would capitalize on its stellar field position as Horn threw a touchdown to super senior wide receiver Caleb Crawford. The score gave Trinity a 28-16 lead late in the game.
The Tigers would get another touchdown by way of a Winston Hutchison run, giving Trinity a 35-16 lead they would hold for the remainder of the game. As the clock ran down to triple zeros, the Tigers celebrated their win over UMHB. This presented a mild measure of revenge against the team that ended their season in back-to-back years, but more importantly, it gave Trinity a 1-1 record with a chance to go 2-1 next week when they go to Birmingham to play the Birmingham-Southern College Panthers.
