SAN ANTONIO – The #9/10 Trinity University football team opened Southern Athletic Association play with a convincing 23-6 win over defending champion #11/16 Berry College (GA) on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers (4-0, 1-0) handed the Vikings (3-1, 0-1) their first loss of the season in a showdown between the two SAA teams that have won or shared every conference title since Trinity joined in 2017. Trinity improves to 6-4 in the series against Berry, which won against Trinity twice last year – once in the regular season and once in the NCAA Playoffs.
It took nearly the entire quarter before either team scored and it was Trinity that took the first lead in the final minute of the period. Berry responded almost immediately with a long touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, but a failed two-point conversion left the Tigers in front 7-6. The Vikings would not score again as Trinity's defense and special teams held them in check the rest of the way. Berry outgained Trinity 340 to 265 on offense, but if you take away the long touchdown play the teams were nearly identical. The Tiger defense forced two turnovers in the game and recorded five sacks for a loss of 46 yards. Trinity also had two blocked punts on special teams and piled up more than 100 yards on two kickoff returns.
TJ Scannell (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) led Trinity's defense with 14 tackles – one shy of his career best – that included 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. He also added two forced fumbles, a pass breakup, and a QB hurry.
Dorien Hill (Buda, Texas / Hays) recorded a career-high 13 tackles that was highlighted by a 14-yard sack and a fumble recovery.
Judson Crockett (Austin, Texas / Westlake) finished with five total tackles – 1.5 of which were for a loss – and recorded a pair of blocked punts. This is the second time in four games that he has recorded multiple punt blocks, and he has chalked up five blocks already this season.
Delvin Gantt (Burton, Texas / Burton) had his first interception of the season while also finishing with five tackles and a pass breakup.
Welker Horn (Lubbock, Texas / Lubbock Christian) completed 13-of-18 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown, while fellow QB
Hondo Franklin (Allen, Texas / Lovejoy) tossed a TD on his only pass of the game.
Alejandro Tavarez (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) caught three passes for 64 yards and a score, while
Colton Schmid (New Braunfels, Texas / La Vernia) had a 26-yard touchdown on his only reception of the game.
Luke Sams (Jacksboro, Texas / Jacksboro) had three catches for 48 yards and also ran six times for 15 more yards from scrimmage. His biggest contribution came on a 76-yard kickoff return to set up Trinity's second TD of the game, giving him 139 all-purpose yards in the game.
Jason Love (San Antonio, Texas / Brennan) led the team with 39 yards rushing and a touchdown on 13 carries.
The Rundown
Trinity got the opening kick but went three-and-out, leading to a Berry drive that lasted 10 plays but ultimately resulted in no points. The Vikings drove inside the 30 but the drive stalled as the Tiger defense stiffened. Trinity got a first down for the first time in the game but could not move the ball past midfield. Hill had a huge sack on third down to push Berry to its own 11 yard line and the Tigers took over just shy of midfield thanks to a solid return from
Lamont Nickleberry (Childress, Texas / Childress). Horn connected with
Kade Ramirez (Needville, Texas / Needville) for a 21-yard gain to move across midfield on the second play of the drive, then later found Schmid for a 26-yard score to take a 7-0 lead.
Berry took over at the end of the quarter, then opened the second with a 65-yard touchdown pass that shocked the home crowd. The Vikings lined up for the PAT, then shifted to a two-point try that ultimately came up short and Trinity remained in the lead at 7-6 just 10 seconds into the period. After Nickleberry took the opening kickoff for a 25-yard return, Berry decided to kick away from him on their second try. Sams made them pay for that decision, slashing his way through the middle of the field for a 76-yard return that set the Tiger offense up inside the red zone. Franklin hit Tavarez two plays later and although the PAT was blocked, Trinity still led 13-6.
Berry got pinned inside the 15 on the kickoff and a penalty moved them back even further. Scannell sliced his way through the offense on the first official play of the drive and forced a fumble that was recovered by Hill. Berry's defense stood up to the challenge though, and the Tigers settled for a field goal try that ultimately turned into an unsuccessful fake and no points to show for it. Both offenses struggled on the ensuing drives and Berry was on the short end of the field position battle. Punting from inside its own 10, Crockett came through with his first block of the game and put his offense on the field with just 20 yards to paydirt. Instead, Berry forced its first turnover of the game on the second play and got the ball back almost immediately. With just over five minutes left in the half, Berry finally got some traction offensively and drove into Trinity territory. The Vikings converted two third downs before slowing down inside the 25. The 14-play drive ended with Berry coming up short on a fourth-and-two play in the final seconds, leaving the Tigers with a 13-6 lead at the half.
The teams exchanged punts to start the third quarter, then on Berry's second punt of the second half, Crockett made his way through for another blocked punt. This time the Tigers took advantage, though, and wound up with a 32-yard field goal. Trinity started just inside the 50 and Horn connected with Sams for a third-down catch-and-run for an 18-yard gain. The Tigers had five straight run plays after that, ending with the field goal to take the 10-point lead. Berry took over with under two minutes left in the quarter and started with a long 34-yard play to midfield, but it was called back for a holding penalty. The Vikings still were able to mount a drive that got them inside the 20 early in the final quarter, but then Gantt intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep the visitors from cutting into the lead.
The second play of the ensuing Trinity drive was a deep shot down the sideline, which Tavarez went up and snagged for a 35-yard gain despite good coverage on the play. Horn led the Tigers to convert three third downs during the drive – the last of which was a 13-yard touchdown run for Love on third-and-five. The 11-play drive covered 80 yards and took up nearly half the quarter (7:23), leaving Berry to face a 23-6 deficit with less than six minutes remaining in the game. The Vikings drove inside the 25 and were on pace to cut into the lead, but Scannell made back-to-back plays to ruin that plan. He recorded his first solo sack of the game on third-and-10 and then nearly intercepted the next pass as Berry was forced to go for it on fourth-and-long. Trinity wasn't able to chew up much more clock on its next drive, but Berry still had just 2:20 remaining when it took over again. The Vikings did drive deep in Trinity territory again, but
Hunter Pavlicek (San Antonio, Texas / Churchill) had a third-down sack despite being held on the play that pushed Berry back past the 25, and the desperation heave in the final seconds fell incomplete to give Trinity the 23-6 victory.
Up Next
Trinity will play its first road game of the season next weekend, heading just up the highway to face Southwestern University (TX) in more SAA action. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 10.
