SAN ANTONIO – After last week's season opener was cancelled, Trinity's football team was finally able to open up the 2021 fall campaign, and did so with a resounding 64-0 victory over Macalester College (Minn.) on Saturday evening.

Tucker Horn (Graham, Texas / Graham) had a career night to lead the Tiger offense's best scoring output in nearly 20 years and the third-largest scoring margin in a shutout in school history. Horn finished the day with video game numbers, completing 20-for-23 passes for 327 yards and six touchdowns. Trinity had piled up 43 points and 400 yards of offense by the time the game reached halftime.

The Tiger defense also enjoyed an outstanding night, holding Macalester to just 125 yards of total offense and recording its first shutout since the 2018 season. Trinity yielded just 14 yards rushing, forced three turnovers, and held Macalester to five yards or fewer on eight total drives in the game. Caleb Harmel (Burton, Texas / Burton) led a balanced defense with six tackles that included a sack.

The Rundown

Trinity won the toss and elected to receive at the start of the game, turning its first third down opportunity into a 56-yard catch-and-run from Horn to starting running back Winston Hutchison (Round Rock, Texas / McNeil).

After a quick opening drive by Macalester, Horn was back at it again. This time he hit first-year BJ Stewart (Shreveport, La. / Woodlawn) for a 45-yard reception that set up the second touchdown of the night. Ryan Merrifield (Austin, Texas / Vandergrift) scored his first of two touchdowns in the game from three yards out, and following a successful two-point conversion, the Tigers led 15-0 less than five minutes into the game.

Merrifield caught his next touchdown from just a yard out, which was the last of three straight receptions on the scoring drive. He caught a 45-yard pass to get Trinity into the red zone, then came up just short with a 17-yard catch to the one that set up the score on the ensuing play.

The Tigers started the second quarter with another long pass play – this time it was Horn finding Caleb Crawford (Houston, Texas / Strake Jesuit) for a 44-yard touchdown to put Trinity in front 29-0 at the time.

That sparked Macalester to its best drive of the night, covering 60 yards on 16 plays, but ending with a field goal attempt 32 yards out that was blocked. Trinity stalled offensively on its next drive, but the Tigers recovered a fumble on the ensuing punt at the Macalester 30 yard line. Horn found Austin Bertness (Richmond, Texas / Travis) for a score on the next play to make it a 36-0 lead.

Macalester answered with its best play of the night, but even that ended in disappointment as the Tiger defense forced a fumble that interrupted a 50-yard pass play. Trinity punched it in just six plays later as Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek) accounted for 45 of the drive's 59 yards, ending with his four-yard rushing touchdown that was the final score of the half.

Trinity's opening drive of the third quarter featured more of the same for Grigsby, who piled up 40 more yards rushing and receiving, and made his way into the end zone on a 10-yard reception that pushed the score to 50-0.

That was the only score of the third quarter for the Tigers, though the fourth began with another passing touchdown. This time it was quarterback Will Chaney (San Antonio, Texas / Alamo Heights) finding Tate Jernigan (Houston, Texas / St. Pius X) for a 26-yard TD pass.

The very next play was an interception for first-year Azariah Anderson (Saint Charles, Mo. / Francis Howell North), who promptly went 44 yards for what looked like the first defensive touchdown of the season. Instead, a penalty brought the ball back to the 40 and the Tigers were unable to capitalize on the turnover.

Trinity chewed up nearly six minutes of the final quarter on its next drive, going 87 yards on 14 plays, and finishing with a one-yard touchdown run from Gerald Daniels (Houston, Texas / North Shore). That proved to be the final score of the game, pushing Trinity past 60 points for the first time since 2011.

Numbers to Note

Horn finished with his first career 300-yard passing game and became just the third player in school history with six or more passing touchdowns. He is the first to reach that total since Nykolas McKissic in 2012, and finishes one short of the all-time record set by Roy Hampton in 2001. All told, Trinity passed for 403 yards in the game, which is the first time over 400 yards for the Tigers since 2007.

Horn also broke the school record for completion percentage in a game (minimum 20 completions), completing 86.95% of his passes in the game.

PJ Hensley (St. Louis, Mo. / Ladue Horton Watkins) was a perfect 8-for-8 in extra point attempts, tying the school record for the most PAT's in a game. He is the third Tiger player to convert eight in a game, joining Todd Canion and Garrett Biel on the exclusive list. Canion hit eight PAT's in 2002, while Biel tied the record in 2011 and 2012.

Merrifield finished with four receptions for 70 yards and his two scores to lead a group of 12 receivers who caught passes in tonight's game. Bertness also had four catches for 58 yards and a score.

Hutchison led the game with 108 all-purpose yards, adding 52 yards rushing on just five carries to go with his 56-yard TD reception. Stewart was one yard shy of Hutchison's total of all-purpose yards in the game, adding 55 yards in punt and kick returns to go with his 52 yards receiving.

Grigsby piled up 73 yards rushing and 21 yards receiving to fall just short of the century mark, but did score twice to match Merrifield for the team lead. Daniels led the team with 74 yards rushing and a touchdown, carrying the ball 13 times for an average of 5.7 yards/rush.

Harmel led the way with his six stops and a trio of Tigers were next in line with four tackles each. Hunter Houser (Huffman, Texas / Crosby), Harris Good (Ft. Worth, Texas / Paschal), and James Ogunrin (Katy, Texas / Episcopal) each finished with four tackles to tie for second on the team in the game.

Good combined with Campbell Miller (Tyler, Texas / Lee) for one of three Trinity sacks in the game, and Good also led the way with three total tackles for loss.

Coach Speak

"First off, I want to congratulate all of our seniors on a great start to their final season," said Head Coach Jerheme Urban. "It's been such a crazy whirlwind for all of them to get to this point, and I think that they all led and performed at a level that reflects their commitment to both the program and winning. I thought overall as a team we played very fast and very physical from the opening kickoff, and it appeared to be pretty good execution for a game one. I know we need to get some things cleaned up on special teams this week, but all and all I'm pleased with our focus, pleased with our work, and this was a complete team win. We'll enjoy it for a day, and then get to work preparing for an explosive TLU team that had a big win tonight themselves."

Up Next

Trinity is headed to nearby Bulldog Stadium in Seguin, Texas, to take on Texas Lutheran University in a road game that is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 18.