SAN ANTONIO – Trinity's 19th-ranked football team remained unbeaten and on top of the conference standings with a resounding 62-13 Southern Athletic Association win over Hendrix College (AR) on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers jumped out to a 41-7 lead at halftime, scoring 34 unanswered points after Hendrix tied the game midway through the first quarter. That streak continued into the second half as Trinity scored two more touchdowns before Hendrix answered late in the third quarter.

Quarterback Tucker Horn (Graham, Texas / Graham) had another outstanding game to lead the way for the Tigers, tossing five touchdown passes and throwing for a career-high 343 yards on 23-of-26 passing. His 88.5% completion rate is the best mark in school history, which is the second time this season that he has broken the school record. He also completed 87% of his passes in the season opener against Macalester.

Chris Stewart (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) scored three touchdowns in today's game and has scored seven times in the last two contests. In addition to his 78 total yards from scrimmage, Stewart also went for 52 yards on his only kickoff return opportunity and led the game with 130 all-purpose yards.

Caleb Harmel (Burton, Texas / Burton) and Michael Jewett (Houston, Texas / Strake Jesuit) led a stifling Trinity defense that gave up just 81 yards over the first three quarters of the game. Jewett had four tackles to go with a fumble recovery and an interception, while Harmel led Trinity with seven tackles and a forced fumble. Matthew Willis (Granbury, Texas / Glen Rose) finished with 2.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

The Rundown

After Stewart's 52-yard return on the opening kickoff, Trinity drove just 40 yards for the opening score, which came on a five-yard pass from Horn to Cole Monago (Houston, Texas / Klein Cain).

Hendrix went three-and-out on its first possession, but the ensuing punt bounced up and hit a Trinity player who was blocking on the play. The Warriors recovered on the Trinity 45 and promptly drove down and tied the game in just four plays.

The answer from Trinity came just five plays later as Horn found Stewart for a 39-yard pass play to reclaim the lead. Stewart made a double move on the outside and beat the defense down the right side of the field to cap the 75-yard drive.

Another three-and-out for Hendrix led to another touchdown drive orchestrated by Horn. He went 4-for-4 on the drive and each pass led to a first down. The final throw also led to a 22-yard touchdown for Marshall Fish (Belton, Texas / Belton), and a 21-7 led with just 15 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Trinity's defense forced its third three-and-out in the first four drives of the game and a 15-yard penalty put the potent Tiger offense near midfield. Horn hit BJ Stewart (Shreveport, La. / Woodlawn) for a fourth-down touchdown from 37 yards out, but a penalty nullified the score and Trinity was forced to punt.

The punt from Eli Gehman (Cedar Park, Texas / Leander) was downed just inside the one yard line and Hendrix never recovered. On third down from its own seven, Harmel knocked the ball loose and Jewett recovered to set Trinity up for a short field.

After a penalty pushed them back 15 yards, Horn hit C. Stewart for another score from 22 yards away to make it a 27-7 game.

Willis picked up his first sack of the day on the ensuing drive, putting Hendrix in a third-and-20 situation that eventually led to another punt. Another special teams penalty put the Tigers near midfield again, and this time Trinity took advantage on offense. Horn completed a pair of passes and ran twice for six more yards, then C. Stewart scored from nine yards out on a reverse play to push the score to 34-7 with more than four minutes left in the first half.

After another Hendrix punt, the Tiger offense needed just 74 seconds to score again from 77 yards away. Horn hit B. Stewart twice on the drive and had another touchdown between the two taken away by penalty. After the penalty, Horn and Monago had an 18-yard connection to set up Justin Carmouche (Cypress, Texas / Cy-Ranch) for a three-yard rushing touchdown and a 41-7 halftime lead.

Just four plays into the second half, Jewett stepped in front of a pass to snag an interception that set Trinity up at the Hendrix 32 yard line. Horn wasted no time in converting the turnover into points, finding Caleb Crawford (Houston, Texas / Strake Jesuit) for the score on the first play.

Hendrix went three-and-out on its next drive and a 20-yard punt put Trinity's offense back on the field just 48 yards from the end zone. Will Chaney (San Antonio, Texas / Alamo Heights) took over at QB and led Trinity down the field for another score. Ja'Than Royal (Lake Charles, La. / Lake Charles Prep) had a 28-yard run to highlight the drive, which was finished by a three-yard touchdown pass from Chaney to Anton Noble (Mobile, Ala. / Murphy).

A Tiger penalty helped keep the next drive for Hendrix going, which eventually led to a touchdown that made it a 55-13 game with just under six minutes left in the third quarter. That broke a streak of seven unanswered touchdowns by Trinity.

Chaney led a drive that ate up all but five seconds that were left in the quarter, going 76 yards in 11 plays to account for what proved to be the game's final tally. Chaney had 18 yards rushing to go with 29 yards through the air on the drive. Fish scored from two yards out to register touchdown catches from two different Tiger signal-callers.

Numbers to Note

Fish caught two touchdown passes for 24 total yards in the game, which were the first two receptions of his career at Trinity.

B. Stewart led the game with seven receptions for 76 yards, while Monago had a team-high 84 yards on six catches, and Crawford totaled 50 yards on four catches.

C. Stewart finished with three receptions for 69 yards and two scores, which puts him over 2,000 receiving yards in his career. He is the ninth player in school history to reach the milestone, as well as the ninth player ever to record 20 or more receiving touchdowns.

Royal led Trinity with 44 yards rushing on seven carries, while Hutchison finished with 39 yards on nine totes. Hutchison also had a 23-yard reception in the game.

Horn notched his second career 300-yard passing game, as well as his third game this season with five or more touchdown passes.

Harmel and Willis both reached 100 career tackles in the game, and Willis now has 8.5 sacks in his career at Trinity.

Coach Speak

"I'm really proud of our team and the focus we played with against a good Hendrix program," said Head Coach Jerheme Urban. "We were very mindful that a home team had never won a game in this series, and our young men committed to taking things one play at a time, winning conversion downs on both sides of the field, and playing complimentary three phase football. We continued to get strong performances from our starters on offense and defense, and it was great to see guys like Cole Monago and Marshall Fish step up and make huge plays today when they were pressed into larger roles due to injuries."

"I'm really excited about the week ahead and the chance to play an outstanding Birmingham-Southern team for the conference championship," continued Coach Urban. "This will be our biggest challenge of the year with their All-American running back and very stout defense, and I'm thankful that our guys have earned the chance to be in this situation."

Up Next

As mentioned by Coach Urban, Trinity hits the road for a game at #21/22 Birmingham-Southern College next weekend. The Tigers and Panthers will play at noon in Birmingham, Alabama. The two teams are the last remaining unbeaten teams in SAA play, and with the rest of the league now having at least two losses, the winner will be the conference champion.