You could try to say it was easy for Trinity Episcopal Day School to win a state title, but it wasn’t.

Yes, the Saints made a habit of winning games by a large margin this season. Yes, they shut opposing teams down with five shutouts and eight games in which they held opponents to less than 10 points.

The season had an appearance of ease to anyone who was only there to see what the Saints did on Friday nights. It looked like Trinity effortlessly cruised to the school’s sixth state title in football.

But to say it was easy would be to ignore the hours upon hours of hard work these young men put in to make their preseason dream a reality. It would cheapen what the players and coaches worked so hard to accomplish, going back a year to the Saints’ elimination in the second round of the playoffs.

Make no mistake — while the scores might have given an appearance of easiness, the reality is that it was anything but that.

Head coach Josh Loy had to replace defensive coordinator Kyle Ketchings. He made a home-run hire in Hunter Ogden. He also had to get some help in molding the team’s offensive line so the skill players could do their thing. He made another home-run hire with former Trinity lineman Larry Calcote.

The players had to go through spring practice, summer workouts and fall camp. They had to make it through a 14-week season without injuries despite not having a ton of depth.

Try telling the Saints players they had it easy when they were in the weight room, attempting to get that one last rep because they couldn’t stand the thought of not finishing strong. Try telling them it was easy running up that hill next to their stadium over and over again.

For that matter, try telling them it was easy when the players are getting hit every Friday night. Try telling them it was easy when, as the blowouts piled up and opposing teams got frustrated, it was easy to fight through some of those teams venting their frustrations with an extra push or two.

Let’s not forget that the team was made up by a bunch of teenagers. Teenagers deal with distractions. Life happens. How much does the average person deal with in a 14-week timespan? Think it was easy to navigate the rough waters of living and still go undefeated?

No, these Saints aren’t state champions because the road was easy. They’re state champions because the road was difficult, but they fought through it together. Nothing worth accomplishing in life is easy — that’s what makes it worth accomplishing to begin with.

Many teams go into the season with hopes of winning it all. Only one actually does. Ten years from now, the Saints players and coaches can look in the mirror with pride knowing they were part of the select few whose season didn’t end in bitter disappointment.

Just don’t insult what they did by saying it was easy.