Final score: Trinity 80, Shiloh Christian 26
Key player(s): Take your pick – RBs Terrance Tusan, Sivad Boykin and Tevin Williams combined for 361 rushing yards and six TDs.
Key stat: Trinity rushed for 565 yards at 11.7 yards per carry.
Key play: Q’Niko Thomas (Trinity) intercepted a tipped pass, broke two tackles and raced 69 yards for a TD with 28 seconds left in the half.
Total yards: Trinity 706, Shiloh 326
Live blog of gamePreview of gameResults of three other Herbstreit-Texas gamesARLINGTON, Texas - Steve Lineweaver admitted immediately that he wasn’t prepared. And when a football coach from Texas says that, it’s usually not a good sign.
Trinity's "Hogs" led by Lutui (77) paved way to 565 rushing yards.
Photo by Keith Owens
But in this case, the
Trinity (Euless, Texas) coach meant he wasn’t ready for the final score. Nobody was. How could they be?
Trinity 80,
Shiloh Christian (Springdale, Ark.) 26.
That’s no misprint.
And there’s no doubt which is the No. 1 team in the country. Even if Shiloh Christian isn't No. 2. The Trojans (2-0) are and were that impressive.
“Frankly, I was extremely unprepared for that,” Lineweaver said. “It was a little uncomfortable, but it’s better than the other way around I suppose.”
In a battle between the top-ranked teams in the MaxPreps human and computer rankings in the first game of the Kirk Herbstreit Kickoff Classic at Cowboys Stadium, Trinity put on an offensive display that would have inspired NASA. Or the U.S. Army. Or the Cowboys themselves.
Even though Shiloh Christian (1-1), which has won three state titles in five years, had almost the entire offseason to prepare for Trinity’s power and sprint attack, they simply had no answer. Trinity piled up 706 yards and used very few plays to do it.
The Trojans’ touchdown drives of 51, 71, 60, 69, 56, 60, 50, 58, 68, 25 and 85 yards took all of 32 plays. The game itself featured six TDs longer than 50 yards and three others 38 yards or longer.
Trinity averaged 14.1 yards per play.
“They just do what they do and they do it real well,” Shiloh Christian quarterback Kiehl Frazier said.
Led by a massive and active offensive line - nicknamed the Hogs - the Trojans piled up 565 yards on the ground. They paved the way for three 100-yard rushers who had almost identical statistics:
Terrance Tusan, a 5-foot-5, 155-pound scatback had 8 carries for 128 yards, 5-4, 200-pound bowling ball Sivad Boykin added 122 yards on six carries, and gazelle-like Tevin Williams (6-0, 191) contributed 111 yards on 10 carries.
Each rushed for two scores.
“They’re just so physical everywhere,” Shiloh Christian coach Josh Floyd said. “We think we’re pretty physical ourselves. … but they just kept throwing backs out there and they hurt you all different ways. Those offensive lineman are tough to handle.”
Williams wasn't wrapped up often, but Shiloh Christian paid a price when he was.
Photo by Keith Owens
Lineweaver said out of all the positives – and eight different players scored touchdowns – he pointed straight to his hogs up front.
Junior Trinity lineman Hiva Lutui (6-2, 280) said he wasn’t surprised by the 80-spot the Trojans put up. The cumulative score of 106 shatter the previous Herbstreit record of 94, set in 2006 in Ohio when De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) defeated Elder (Cincinnati) 56-38.
The Trojans almost broke that by themselves. They just missed the school record of 88 set last season - also at Cowboys Stadium - in an opening-round playoff game against Flower Mound.
“It’s just what we do,” Lutui said. “By the end of the first quarter I could tell they were slowing down. We just pound and pound and pound some more. That’s the key.”
Williams, who rushed for 202 yards in a 42-21 win over Bingham (Utah) last year here, said Trinity was out to set a point. He scored on the game’s first drive, a 3-play, 51 yarder capped with his 7-yard run. He keyed the drive with a 24-yard scamper on the first play from scrimmage.
“Last week (a 39-0 win over Lee) we got off to a slow start and this week we wanted to come out fast,” Williams said. “That’s what we did and rolled.”
Shiloh Christian, much smaller and with about half the players, had no room for error and needed to slow down Trinity’s run game. Neither of those things happened.
The Saints stayed in early behind three long touchdowns – a 93-yard kickoff return Garrett Harper and TD passes of 69 and 83 yards to Zann Jones from Frazier (10 of 22, 227 yards) – but as Frazier said: “We couldn’t stay in much offensive rhythm but their speed is so good. Plus it would take them only a play or two to score.
“We definitely won’t see a team like that again.”
Said Floyd: “We thought we’d do a better job up front. Our defensive line is one of our strengths and thought we’d stop their run a little better. … We’re normally on the other end of these scores and it’s not a lot of fun being on this end. But we’ll bounce back. Nobody from Arkansas is coming down here to play a team like that so we’ll take that as a positive.”
Trinity 80, Shiloh Christian 26Shiloh Christian 14 6 6 0 - 26
Trinity 24 29 13 14 – 80
First quarterT – Tevin Williams 7 run (Tony Perez kick), 11:04
T – Lahi Kautai 3 run (Perez kick), 8:43
S – Garrett Harper 93 kickoff return (J.T. Hale kick), 8:31
T – John Brown 60 run (Perez kick), 8:19
T – FG, Perez 30, 1:25
S – Zann Jones 69 pass from Kiehl Frazier (Hale kick), 0:29
Second quarterT – Terrance Tusan 10 run (Perez kick), 11:34
S – Jones 83 pass from Frazier (kick failed), 10:09
T – Williams 40 run (Perez kick), 8:39
T – Tusan 4 run (Perez kick), 6:23
T – Q’niko Thomas 69 interception return (Nila Kasitati pass from Kautai), 0:28
Third quarterS – Frazier 9 run (kick failed) 7:04
T – Sivad Boykin 58 run (Tyler Orwig kick), 6:52
T – Brandon Reeves 39 run (kick failed), 0:27
Fourth quarterT – Jeremy Louis 7 run (Orwig kick), 6:41
T – Boykin 32 run (Orwig kick), 3:38
TEAM STATISTICSFirst downs: SC 12, Trinity 23
Rushes-yards: SC 35-99, Trinity 42-565
Passing: SC 10-23-1-227, Trinity 7-8-0-141
Total plays/offense: SC 58-326, Trinity 50-706
Turnovers: SC 2, Trinity 0
Penalties: SC 7-54,Trinity 14-120
Time of possession: SC 26:21, Trinity 21:39
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushingSC – Frazier 16-60, Harper 2-19, Schisler 2-10, Fedosky 6-5. Trinity – Tusan 8-128, Boykin 6-122, Williams 10-111, John Brown 2-64.
PassingSC – Frazier 10-22-1-227, Slone 0-1-0-0. Trinity – Lahi 5-6-0-45, Brandon Carter 2-2-0-96.
ReceivingSC – Jones 4-166, Harper 4-24, Schisler 1-25, Josh Dellinger 1-2. Trinity – Garland Radar 2-96, Carter 2-27, Daniel Dorsey 1-17, Paul Tuipulotu 1-2.
TacklesSC – Colt Thomas 6, Josh Dellinger 5. Trinity – Jonathan Yenga 4.5, Cisco Leota 4.
