CCC ACTION: Trinity scores early, often to top St. James
St. James’ Wilson Aman attempts to break out of the tackle of Brandon Boswell in Trinity’s win over the Trojans on Friday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Seven plays.
That’s all it took for Trinity to take command of the Class A Private Region 2 battle with St. James at Carlisle Field on Friday night.
With St. James still nursing injuries in an exposed secondary, the Wildcats took to the air early on Friday, scoring on their first play from scrimmage, nearly duplicating the first play five plays later, then hitting again on their next play for a 20-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
And just that quick, it was over.
“I thought we played well on both sides of the ball,” Trinity junior Mackin Roth said. “Good defense at the end (to preserve the shutout) by the young guys. It was just a full team effort and fun to watch.”
Trinity’s 41-0 win included an offensive performance that generated an average of 9.3 yards per play, a dominating defensive performance that held St. James to 58 rushing yards in the game and a goal line stand at the end to preserve the shutout.
After escaping with a 25-23 win over a winless Lee-Scott Academy team a week ago, Friday’s performance checked all the boxes for Trinity coach Brian Seymore.
“We had a good week of practice and we responded a little better,” he said, “because I thought we kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit last week. We made some adjustments, didn’t do a lot but they had a lot of people in the box so we felt like we could take some shots early and we were fortunate to hit a couple.”
After three plays and a St. James punt, Trinity quarterback Patton Mitchell’s play-action pass found Roth all alone at the St. James 15-yard line for an easy touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
“It’s a good play call,” Roth said. “We’ve been practicing it all week. Wide open, he threw a good ball and I trotted in.”
Three plays and a St. James punt later, Trinity picked up an initial first down followed by a pair of incompletions. Mitchell them rolled left, hit Mackin with a pass and the junior broke into the clear for a 68-yard touchdown play and a 14-0 lead.
“Wide open again,” Roth said. “I had just dropped one so I owed Patton one. Trotted in again.”
Three incomplete passes and a St. James punt later, Mitchell heaved a pass down the center of the field for William Hughes on a 53-yard play for a 20-0 lead.
“It’s a coverage we’ve run since day one, but we’ve got (a safety) out with a concussion so Michael (Hassell) is having to split up and do quarterback and safety,” St. James coach Hayden Stockton said of the first touchdown. “Our other two kids have concussions so I only have one guy and he’s doing offense and then doing defense. It just happens when you’re splitting time on both ends of the field.”
The second touchdown, he added, happened because “eyes got caught looking in the backfield, looking for the run, and bang, we got hit over the top again. One missed tackle and he was gone.”
The Trojans’ next possession ended with a Drew Sanders’ interception, resulting in a John Michael Cox 4-yard touchdown run three plays later for a 27-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Wildcats added another touchdown three plays into the second quarter on Tristan Wright’s 2-yard run and Mitchell ran 10 yards for a score on the first possession of the third quarter, but most of the second half involved reserve players and a running clock.
St. James would have just two scoring opportunities, driving to a first and goal at the Trinity 8 late in the second quarter before a bad snap stalled the drive and a missed field goal attempt left the Trojans scoreless.
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans marched 38 yards to the 1-yard line, but backup quarterback Carson Crum was thrown for a 1-yard loss and the clock expired.
“I think that was big,” Seymore said. “No disrespect to them, but I thought it was big for our young guys to go in there and get a stop right there and preserve the shutout. That was big to some of our older guys. They did a good job.”
The Wildcats generated 371 yards in just 40 plays while keeping a simple approach to Friday’s game.
“We didn’t do a lot offensively, just kind of stayed with our base stuff, but that’s what we were looking for,” Seymore said. “We can’t afford, moving forward, to turn over the ball against these upper echelon teams. We’ve got to prepare this week because we’re about to play some really good teams.”
Trinity (6-1) remains in first place in Class A Private Region 2 play at 4-0, but steps out of region play next week with a game at Westbrook Christian before closing out region play with games against Pike Liberal Arts and Montgomery Academy.
“We harped on it all week at practice,” Roth said. “We’ve got to be better. We’re not worried about them, we’re worried about our team and we’ve got to play better football. It’s the little things. If we do that, we’ll be a good team.”
St. James (2-5) is in third place in Region 2 and will determine its postseason fate over the next two weeks with games against Prattville Christian and Alabama Christian.
“You win one, you’re probably in, you win them both and you’re locked in at No. 3,” Stockton said. “We’re young, so they’re going to linger with (Friday’s loss) where an older seasoned group would be able to put it behind them and understand the importance of what’s ahead.”