BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The sixth-ranked Tiger football team began defense of its Southern Athletic Association Championship with a convincing 38-3 victory over Birmingham-Southern College on Saturday afternoon.
Trinity improved to 2-1 overall this season after opening its 2023 SAA schedule with today's win. The Tigers have won all 13 meetings with the Panthers, dating back to the 2007 season. The 35-point margin of victory is the largest ever, following back-to-back meetings that were decided by three points or less.
The Tigers blew the game open with a 17-point second quarter, and
Tyler Huettel (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) finished off the first-half scoring with a 50-yard field goal as time expired to put Trinity in front 24-0 heading into the locker room. Huettel is just the second Trinity player EVER to connect on a 50-yard field goal, and the first since Duncan Pringle knocked in a pair of 52-yard field goals in 1974.
Tucker Horn (Graham, Texas / Graham) continued to impress as the Tiger quarterback, completing 25-of-32 passes (78.1%) for 294 yards and a touchdown. He connected with 10 different receivers in the game, including his only TD pass of the game to sophomore
Matthew Kovacevich (Friendswood, Texas / Friendswood) in the second quarter. Backup QB
Ryan Back (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) picked up his first TD pass of the young season as well, hitting
Cole Monago (Houston, Texas / Klein Cain) on all three of his completions in the game – the last one being a 20-yard touchdown to put the final points on the board in the fourth quarter.
Running back
Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek) led the rushing attack with 51 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries in the game. Grigsby scored from four yards out late in the second quarter, then had a 14-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Merrifield (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) had seven receptions for 89 yards to lead the pass-catchers, while Monago had four grabs for 55 yards and the touchdown.
Birmingham-Southern forced Trinity to punt on the first drive of the game, then pinned the Tigers back to their own one yard line after stalling just past midfield. Horn led the Tigers on a nine-play, 99-yard drive to take the lead.
Justin Carmouche (Cypress, Texas / Cy-Ranch) capped the drive with a one-yard plunge with 4:07 left in the quarter.
With its first drive of the fourth quarter, Birmingham-Southern gambled and went for it on fourth-and-three from the Trinity 39, but the stout Tiger defense held up and got the turnover on downs. The offense took advantage and drove down the field for another score to make it a 14-0 game with just 5:19 left in the half. Horn hit Merrifield for a crucial third-and-20 conversion during the drive, then hit Kovacevich from a yard out for the score.
The day went from bad to worse for the Panthers after that, as the next play from scrimmage was a fumble that was picked up by Trinity's
Ryan Arnold (Austin, Texas / Vandegrift) at the BSC 39. The short field led to Grigsby's four-yard plunge and a 21-0 lead with just 1:39 left in the half. A three-and-out that used just 31 seconds of game clock led to one more shot for Trinity. Horn drove the offense to the BSC 23, but a holding penalty derailed the drive in the final seconds. With just five seconds left on the clock, Huettel lined up his 50-yard bomb to close out the half.
Birmingham-Southern came out of the locker room at halftime and put together its only scoring drive of the day, settling for a short field goal to make it 24-3. The Panthers aired out a 68-yard pass play to get into the red zone, but Trinity's defense held up in the end. Neither team did much else until the Tiger offense began clicking again late in the third quarter. Trinity capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive with Grigsby's second score of the day to make it a 31-3 game less than a minute into the final quarter.
Another long pass play set up Birmingham-Southern again on the Trinity side of the field, but the Tiger defense got another fourth-down stop to keep the lead at 28 points. Trinity's offense also stalled on a fourth-and-short on its next drive, which was the final drive of the day for Horn. Back got his chance with 3:45 left in the game, hitting Monago three times for 41 yards in the drive that ultimately ended with Monago's 20-yard TD reception.
Up Next
Trinity will be back at home next weekend, hosting Rhodes College in more SAA action. The game time for Saturday's kickoff moved up two hours earlier to 4:00 p.m.
