WESTSIDE – Surprisingly locked in a tie at the half, Trinity Christian used the torrential down pour to its own advantage by turning up its defensive pressure enabling the Conquerors to run away from visiting Bolles 34-7 Friday night.
Things didn’t start out that way though as Pearson Toomey sacked Jacory Jordan on the opening drive of the game on a fourth and thirteen play after Trinity drove inside the 25 yard line stopping the Conquerors to force a turnover on downs.
After stopping Bolles on a third and long play, the Conquerors appeared to have stopped the Bulldogs on their opening drive but a late hit out of bounds on the receiver kept the drive going with an automatic first down on the play.
Bolles made them pay for the mistake as quarterback Ben Netting hit Chris Sanders for a 23 yard gain down to the 4 yard line and the Bulldogs capped the drive with a 2 yard run two plays by Kel McCloud to give Bolles a 7-0 lead with 3:11 left in the first quarter.
It didn’t take long for Trinity to answer as Dreshawn Dawkins returned the kickoff 31 yards to the 36 yard line and Marcus Crowley raced 60 yards two plays later to tie the game at 7-7 barely a minute later with 2:15 left in the first.
As the first quarter winded down and the second quarter began, Bolles put together a 14 play near seven minute drive together following the Trinity score and appeared to be on its way to retaking the lead as Netting found Sanders again for a 20 yard completion to put the Bulldogs inside the 20 yard line. However the Trinity defense didn’t budge forcing Bolles to attempt a 34 yard field but Anthony Brown broke through the line and blocked the Brady attempt to deny the Bulldogs the three points with 7:36 left till half.
Both teams traded three and outs on their next ensuing drives before Trinity picked up a first down as quarterback Jacory Jordan hit Dawkins for a 28 yard gain and Crowley followed with runs of 13 and 18 to set up the Conquerors at the 27 yard line. Isaiah Washington hauled in a 16 yard completion from Jordan but Trinity had to settle for a field goal and Clayton Roerig’s 28 yard attempt sailed wide left seconds before half to keep the score knotted at 7-7 going into halftime.
The second half was a different story as Bolles couldn’t run thanks to the Trinity front seven and the swampy wet conditions from a torrential down pour the entire second half.
CJ Grimes was hit by Jonathan Ealey and fumbled the ball away on the second play from scrimmage for Bolles to start the third quarter to give Trinity great field position to start the third quarter at the 39 yard line.
It took one play for Trinity to score as Crowley rumbled 39 yards down the sideline to put Trinity ahead 14-7 barely a minute into the third quarter.
Bolles (8-5) put together another solid drive driving all the way down to the ten after a completion from Netting to Cooper Sullivan and the running of McCloud. However, with first and goal, the Trinity defense came up with a huge goal line stand to keep Bolles from tying it as McCloud was hit twice for a loss, Netting completed a short pass and Sullivan was stuffed on fourth and goal to deny Bolles with under 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
Two possessions later, backed up to its own 10 yard line, Crowley took a handoff from Jordan broke through the line and raced down the Trinity sideline untouched for a 90 yard touchdown run to increase the Trinity lead to 21-7 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
One play later, Trinity was back in the end zone again as Stephen Williams picked up a fumble and returned it 30 yards for a score as Trinity pulled ahead 28-7 just seconds later.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Bolles tried a halfback pass as Netting threw a backward pass to his receiver and then fielded the pass on the other side of the field and was leveled as he caught it and laid on the ground for several minutes. After a lengthy delay, Netting was carted off by ambulance and transported to a local hospital.
With less than two minutes left in the game, eighth grader Treyaun Webb raced 94 yards untouched for a score putting Trinity ahead 34-7 and on to the state semifinals next week.
Trinity stuck to its ground game with the wet conditions and rushed for 397 yards behind Crowley (268 yards, 3 touchdowns on 18 carries) and Webb (105 yards on 5 carries). Crowley went over the 2,000 mark on the season with his performance Friday night and has now rushed for 2,146 yards and 26 touchdowns on 198 carries in 13 games.
Defensively, the Conquerors were led by Lucius Lattimore (11 tackles), Anthony Brown (10 tackles) and William Tippens (10 tackles).
Trinity Christian (13-0) will host North Marion, a 29-22 winner over Nature Coast, next Friday in the Class 5A state semifinals one win away from advancing to the state finals again.
Photos courtesy of Christopher Sanders
