FOOTBALL: Southland saps second-half clock, sinks Trinity with late scores in stunner

The Trinity Crusaders took Cleve Warnock Field Friday looking to extend their win streak to five against Southland Academy. But the Raiders had other plans as they used three second half touchdowns to pull out a 21-7 win.

Southland entered the contest with a 1-6 record, but had played one of the toughest schedules in the GIAA. They Raiders definitely did not look like a team with a losing record on Friday night.

After the Crusaders went three and out on their opening possession, Southland took over and went right to work. The Raiders’ under-center flexbone attack was something Trinity hadn’t faced this season, and it presented a problem early.

Southland ripped off several big runs and drove over 60 yards, deep into Crusader territory. Fortunately, the defense finally came up with a big stop as they forced a fumble to halt the drive.

Neither team could find much traction on the next couple of possessions, as they traded a pair of punts.

Trinity finally put together a good drive late in the half following the second Raider punt. The Crusaders would drive 68 yards on 11 plays and take nearly five minutes off the clock to get down to the Southland 11 yard line with 30 seconds left in the first half.  

Unfortunately, the 12th play of the drive ended in disaster as Ben Castro-Poveda was picked off in the end zone to end the drive and send the teams to the locker room in a scoreless tie.

Southland came out of the half and finally put points on the board. The Raiders used a methodical 11-play drive to march 80 yards. Quarterback Cooper Boren would cap it off with a two-yard run. The extra point was blocked, but the Raiders led 6-0.

The Crusader offense seemed unfazed, and had a quick answer of its own. They needed just seven plays to go 77 yards. Castro-Poveda would find Wade Register for a 34-yard catch-and-run touchdown, and Register’s extra point would give Trinity the lead at 7-6 late in the third quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders would again take over at the 20 and go on an even more time-consuming drive. They would run 16 plays and take nearly nine minutes off the game clock.  

This time, Turner Simmons scored from 12 yards out and an Allen Styck two-point run would give the visitors a 14-7 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the ballgame.

Trinity tried to answer, picking up a pair of first downs, but would ultimately turn it over on downs with just over two minutes left.

Boren put the game away with a 23-yard touchdown run a few plays later to make the score 21-7.  

The Crusaders again picked up multiple first downs in their hurry-up offense, but it was not enough as they would fall short.

Southland controlled the clock most of the night, with 275 yards on 53 plays. 269 came on the ground.  Jamarcus Walker led the way with 100 yards on 14 carries. Simmons added 71 on 13 attempts.

Trinity ended the night with just 206 yards. The Crusaders ended up running 48 plays, but 17 of those came in desperation time over the final two drives.  

Register led the way with 148 yards on 23 carries and added the 34-yard receiving touchdown. Castro-Poveda struggled a bit with accuracy, as he was just 5-of-18 for 56 yards.

Trinity (5-3, 0-1 district) will make a long road trip to Damascus next week as they travel to face Southwest Georgia in another region contest.