Saints advance with penalty-plagued win
Published 12:35 am Saturday, November 9, 2013
NATCHEZ — Trinity Episcopal Day School has made a habit of blowing teams out, and nothing changed Friday night in a 51-7 win against Newton County Academy in the second round of the MAIS Class A playoffs.
However, at least one thing didn’t go quite according to script for the Saints — two ejections off of personal fouls.
Wyatt Boothe and Connor Pressgrove were both tossed following personal foul penalties, something head coach Josh Loy said he wasn’t thrilled about.
“I haven’t had anyone on my team get thrown out (before Friday), much less two in one game,” Loy said. “I think I had one last year, and we hadn’t had anybody this year, and we get two in one game.”
Trinity (11-0) was called for five personal fouls total, while Newton County Academy (7-5) was flagged for three. Generals head coach Rob Roberts declined to comment on the extra-curricular activity going on during the game.
“I’m not going to say anything,” Roberts said. “It was just the heat of the moment.”
At the same time, Roberts was complimentary of the Saints and predicted Trinity would run the table en route to a MAIS Class A state championship.
“We were just outmanned,” Roberts said. “They had too much speed. They have a great team, and they should win it all. We tried, we just couldn’t play with them.”
The game remained scoreless in the first quarter before Trinity scored 30 points in the second quarter to take a 30-0 halftime lead. Trey Hall got things started for the Saints on a 65-yard interception return with 11:46 left in the second. The two-point run attempt failed, making it 6-0 Trinity.
The Saints scored again when running back Dee Fleming carried it in from 3 yards out, and Trey Hall caught the two-point pass from Michael Whitley to go ahead 14-0 with 6:22 left in the second.
With approximately three minutes before intermission, Newton fumbled the ball on their own 25, with the Saints recovering. It was one of three lost fumbles for the Generals, and Trinity quickly made them pay when Whitley hit Quinton Logan for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 2:51 left in the half. Logan caught the two-point pass, making it 22-0.
On the ensuing Newton possession, the Generals fumbled again, this time on the Trinity 49-yard line. One play later, the Saints scored again when Fleming caught a screen pass from Whitley and ran it 51 yards for the score. Fleming punched in the two-point conversion, and the Saints led 30-0.
The Saints added two more scores in the third quarter with a 30-yard touchdown reception by Jacob Sandrock and an 11-yard carry by Fleming. Logan scored one more time in the fourth quarter on a 60-yard pass from Whitley.
The Generals finally got on the board with less than two minutes to play when Dustin Alsup broke free and rushed 46 yards to the end zone, making it 51-7 Trinity.
Whitley was 7 of 12 in passing with 138 yards and three touchdowns for Trinity. He also led the Saints in rushing with 70 yards on five carries. Fleming finished with 51 yards on nine rushes. Logan had five receptions for 99 yards.
The Saints will play Cenla Christian Academy next week in the state semifinal round.