BY ROB DAVIS
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Under the bright glow of a full moon, the inaugural season of football for the Trinity Eagles ended at Moore Stadium in Opelika Thursday night with a first round playoff loss to the Lions from Evangel Christian Academy.
The final score of 46-22 did not reflect the growth and success of a team who entered their first official season of high school football with few expectations and many players who had never played organized football.
“If you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would make it to the playoffs I wouldn’t have believed you,” Trinity head coach Mike Adams said. “I couldn’t be more proud of [this] group of young men.”
Throughout the night the Lions took advantage of opportunities to put points on the board. On their first possession of the game and facing fourth and six Evangel quarterback Donnell Harris fumbled while being tackled behind the line of scrimmage. After a mad scramble for the ball the Lions recovered their own fumble at the 20-yard line of Trinity. Three plays later William Richard ran up the middle for the game’s first score. Marquis Lucas-Woods rushed for the two-point conversion.
Trinity evened the score at the beginning of the second quarter when quarterback William Dooley rolled right and completed a pass to Reid House who broke two tackles and raced 32 yards up the right sideline for the touchdown. Nate Riddle ran for the two-point conversion to tie the score at eight.
The score would not remain tied for long as Evangel regained the lead on the first play of their next possession. Richard took a quick pitch from Harris and broke through the Eagles defensive front on his way to a 55-yard touchdown. The Lions added another score on their first possession of the second half when Richard broke multiple tackles on his way to a 40- yard touchdown, his third of the game.
“We knew we would have to put a lot of points on the board to beat this team,” Evangel head coach Darius Dixon said. “Our offensive line did a great job tonight and our defense was solid. I’m pleased with the way we played on both sides of the ball.”
Evangel broke the game wide open midway through the second half. Taking advantage of two interceptions by Nate Doss the Lions scored on a 4-yard run by Woods and a 5-yard pass from Woods to Arron Junius.
Trinity was able to cut into the Lions lead in the fourth quarter. Highlighted by a 54-yard pass from Dooley to Anderson England, the Eagles drove 78 yards before Nate Riddle bulled his way into the endzone from the 1-yard line. Evangel added two more scores before Josh Riddle scored for the Eagles on a 5-yard touchdown run as time expired in the game.
“I told our guys that yes this hurts right now, but you will remember this season for the rest of your lives,” Adams said. “I told them that some day years from now you might be in Walmart and run into an old teammate and talk about that first football season at Trinity.”
Historic season comes to an end for Trinity
