SAN ANTONIO – The 14th-ranked Trinity University football team opened the 2026 season with a 36-14 win over Texas Lutheran University on Saturday night.
The Tigers (1-0) were held scoreless until the final seconds of the first half and then exploded for 33 points in the second half to take the win over the Bulldogs (0-1). After a slow start offensively, Trinity wound up with 378 yards overall that included 163 yards rushing. The stout Tiger defense gave up just 213 total yards and shut down the TLU ground game by allowing just six rushing yards on 33 attempts.
Quarterback
Welker Horn (Lubbock, Texas / Lubbock Christian) made the most of his first start as a Tiger, connecting on 11-of-17 passing for 199 yards and rushing for a team-best 48 yards, and tallying three total touchdowns.
Jamel Nickerson (Cypress, Texas / Cy-Fair) finished with 32 yards rushing on just three carries.
Jason Love (San Antonio, Texas / Brennan) rushed for 31 yards and also caught four passes for 50 more yards and a 29-yard touchdown catch-and-run.
Maddox Morkovsky (New Braunfels, Texas / New Braunfels) led the team with 74 yards receiving on a pair of catches.
TJ Scannell (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) led the team with 10 tackles on defense, while
Azriel Ngatcha (Irving, Texas / MacArthur) had 2.5 tackles for loss among his nine total tackles.
Dorien Hill (Buda, Texas / Hays) finished with seven total tackles and 1.5 sacks, while
Diego Davila (Spring Branch, Texas / Smithson Valley) recorded eight tackles and had the team's only interception of the game.
Lamont Nickleberry (Childress, Texas / Childress) finished with 72 yards on five punt returns and had a 20-yard return on his only kickoff return of the night.
Jackson Runyan (Frisco, Texas / Rick Reedy) finished his night with three field goals and was 3-for-4 on extra-point attempts as well.
The Rundown
Both teams struggled to move the ball in the opening quarter as the defenses were in control throughout the first 15 minutes. There were four punts and two turnovers in a scoreless first quarter and the second wasn't much better. Trinity's first drive of the quarter pulled just inside the TLU 40 before stalling and the visitors took over at their own 20 after a touchback on the ensuing punt. The Bulldogs chewed up nearly eight minutes on its only full possession of the quarter, but it paid off with the game's first score. The 18-play, 80-yard drive finished with a short touchdown and a 7-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the first half of play.
The Tigers finally got going offensively as well after that as Horn put together what turned out to be a scoring drive to close out the quarter. Horn connected with Morkovsky for a big 42-yard pass play to vault Trinity into the red zone. The Tigers got inside the five yard line but a fumble pushed them back for a third-and-long at the 16. Love got most of it back with a 13-yard reception, but Trinity faced fourth-and-goal from the three with less than 30 seconds to go. The Tigers lined up for a trick play to go for the touchdown, and even though it appeared that Texas Lutheran got the stop, the Bulldogs called timeout before the play. After nearly getting stopped and coming away empty, Trinity decided to go for the chip-shot field goal after the timeout and converted to make it a 7-3 game with 14 seconds left. Texas Lutheran was content to take that lead into halftime.
Texas Lutheran started the first drive of the second half inside its own 10 yard line after a penalty on the opening kickoff. That wound up being a turning point in the game as the Bulldogs went three-and-out, which when combined with a short punt and a good return by Nickleberry, gave the ball to Trinity just 31 yards from the end zone. Love had two good runs to start the drive, but Horn was stopped at the line on third-and-short. Trinity went for it on fourth-and-one from the 22, as
Hunter Pavlicek (San Antonio, Texas / Churchill) broke a 15-yard run to keep the drive going. Two plays later, Horn powered his way across the goal line for a touchdown. A blocked extra point made it a 9-7 lead, though the Tigers made sure that point didn't matter in the end.
Another penalty on the kickoff pushed Texas Lutheran back to its own 12 to start the next drive and the Trinity defense was just as stingy as before to force another three-and-out. The ensuing punt traveled just 23 yards before going out of bounds and the Tigers were set up at the TLU 36. The Bulldogs picked up their second interception of the day just two plays later as Horn went for a deep shot at the end zone, but it did mean that the visitors were pinned at their own two to start the next drive. Trinity's defensive pressure was relentless, and another short punt set the Tiger offense up for success again at the 25 yard line. Despite converting an early third down, the offense stalled and had to settle for a 32-yard field goal – the second of the day from Runyan made it a 12-7 game.
Trinity committed a penalty on the kickoff after that, and Texas Lutheran also took advantage of two more Tiger penalties on the ensuing drive. The missed opportunities for the Trinity offense looked like it might come back to haunt them, but the defense stood tall and held on a fourth-and-three play from the Tiger 33 yard line. Horn found Morkvosky for another long pass play (32 yards), then connected with Love two plays later for a 29-yard touchdown to make it a 19-7 game with less than a minute left in the third quarter.
Elijah Gonzales (Driftwood, Texas / Driftwood) got a big third-down sack at the end of the quarter, then Trinity drove 74 yards for another score to start the fourth quarter and make it a 26-7 advantage. The Tigers had six straight run plays to start the quarter, moving across midfield and inside the 40. The first pass of the drive wound up being the final play of the drive as Horn found
Tyson Hancock (Smithville, Texas / Smithville) for a 35-yard score with just under 11 minutes to go in the game. The recurring theme of a penalty on the kickoff hurt TLU once again, forcing the team to start inside its own 15. Trinity's defense continued to stifle Texas Lutheran and Nickleberry fielded the ensuing punt at midfield. He broke a 41-yard return to the nine yard line, though Runyan was forced into action again for a short field goal. He converted from 28 yards and extended the Tiger lead to 29-7 with eight minutes remaining.
With the game nearly out of reach, Texas Lutheran made one last bid at a comeback with its only successful drive of the second half. The Bulldogs covered 75 yards for a scoring drive, but it took 13 plays and nearly half of the remaining time on the clock to cut it to a 29-14 lead. The onside kick was not only unsuccessful, but a penalty pushed Trinity from near midfield to inside the 30 yard line for another short field. Nickerson quickly put the offense on the door step with a 20-yard run on the first play, then
Hondo Franklin (Allen, Texas / Lovejoy) called his own number two plays later to score from three yards out. The drive took less than two minutes but the score was now 36-14 and the Bulldogs had just over two minutes left to try and cut into the lead. Texas Lutheran did convert a fourth-and-long play late in the game, but the Tiger defense got a sack on the final play to finish off the contest.
Up Next
Trinity will be back in action next weekend, hosting McMurry University (TX) on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.
