SAN ANTONIO – No. 5/6 Trinity University Football collected the program's first win in the NCAA III Football Championship tournament since the 2002 Stagg Bowl Saturday in the team's first home playoff game since 2011 with a 14-7 dogfight victory over No. 9/10 Hardin-Simmons University.

The Tigers (11-0) held the Cowboys (9-2) to just 219 yards of total offense in the 43-degree rain, and only eight yards of offense through the third quarter while the Trinity offense found the endzone to tie it up after the first-half Hardin-Simmons score was left unanswered into the half.

While the defense took a massive leap forward coming out of the locker room for the latter 30 minutes, so did senior wide receiver Ryan Merrifield (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) as he logged his entire stat line—six receptions, 110 yards and a touchdown—in the second half, with his 38-yard score tallied just-over two minutes before the final whistle as the game-winner.

The Trinity defense logged eight tackles for loss on the day led by three from senior defensive back Ezra Gore (McKinney, Texas / North), all in the first half, including his second-quarter sack. Linebackers senior Caleb Harmel (Burton, Texas / Burton) and junior James Ogunrin (Houston, Texas / Katy) each found their way into double-figures in tackles, 12 and 10, respectively.

While the Tigers did have one giveaway in the first half, Trinity worked its way back into the 14-7 final tally without needing to even the turnover margin, but with the Cowboys driving in the final seconds, senior safety Casey Hampton (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) stepped in front of a last-second heave to the goal line for his first career interception.

The dominant third quarter from the Tiger defense was enabled by an unwavering Trinity ground game that finished Saturday's contest with 162 yards on 39 attempts. Junior running back Winston Hutchison (Round Rock, Texas / McNeil) found the endzone late in the third quarter to draw the game even, part of a stat line that included 13 carries for 63 yards. Fellow backfieldmates junior Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek) and senior Justin Carmouche (Cypress, Texas / Cy-Ranch) combined for 97 yards on 21 rushes including a 7.0 yards-per-carry clip from Grigsby.

Senior quarterback Tucker Horn (Graham, Texas / Graham) put up 144 yards through the air and the touchdown to Merrifield on an 11-for-16 performance in the second half, good for a completion percentage near 69 percent.

No. 5/6 Trinity Football will host No. 3/3 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor next Saturday in the Tigers' first NCAA III second-round battle since 2002. The Crusaders defeated USA South champion Huntingdon College, 54-0, in Belton, Texas this afternoon.

The Rundown

Battling the wet and cold conditions was no problem for the defenses in the first two quarters as both teams struggled to produce yards or points. Instead, the defenses were both stifling and both teams worked the field position battle through special teams. Trinity's defense was able to survive back-to-back turnovers by the offense, holding Hardin-Simmons scoreless after both miscues that were definitely attributable in part to the weather.

Hardin-Simmons had the longest drive of the first half of 44 yards on nine plays, but that didn't even cross midfield as the visitors had been pinned inside the five yard line to start the drive. Late in the second quarter, the Cowboys moved inside the Trinity 30 yard line before seemingly to stall facing a 4th-and-10. Hardin-Simmons converted for the first down and carried that momentum into the only scoring drive of the first half and a 7-0 lead.

After deferring in the first half, Trinity got the ball to start the second and came out with a game-tying drive that chewed up nearly the entire third quarter. The Tigers used the 19-play drive to cover 92 yards over nearly 10 minutes of game time. Trinity converted three third downs on the drive - and like its opponent - converted on 4th-and-10 that eventually led to the score. Merrifield had a 12-yard catch on 3rd-and-11 to keep the drive going, then snagged a 23-yard completion on the fourth down play that set up Trinity inside the HSU five yard line. 

Towards the end of the third and the early stages of the fourth, both teams punted from inside the opponents' territory, as it became more and more obvious that field position would be critical to the final result. Trinity started its second drive of the final quarter at exactly the midway point with just 7:30 remaining. The Tigers used up more than five minutes of that time on the decisive scoring drive. Merrifield once again caught two passes to convert on third down - including the 38-yard touchdown strike on 3rd-and-6. 

Hardin-Simmons was left with just 2:10 on the clock to try and tie things up and the Cowboys were near midfield after just four plays. A pass interference call in the end zone on 3rd-and-10 in the final minute set up the visitors at the 10. Flushed out of the pocket, the Cowboys QB was looking to get out of bounds when Harmel came in with a key tackle to force a timeout with just five seconds left. The next pass went into the end zone and left just one second on the clock to set up the final play. That ended up being the game-sealing interception for Hampton, and the Tigers celebrated the victory.

Coach Speak

Coming soon...