Woodard, Windsor too much for Trinity in first game since coaching transition

Trinity’s inevitable process of regrouping, after the resignation of its head coach Bruce Lane earlier in the week, began by taking a big dose of medicine Friday night in Macon. 

The pill was a tough one to swallow for the Crusaders, who were left with the bitter taste of a 55-7 loss to Windsor Academy, as Heath Woodard and the Knights charged to their fifth-straight victory. 

Big plays came left and right in a series of five unanswered touchdowns that opened the game, and three more in the second half to answer Trinity’s only score. Woodard rushed for four of the TDs, and threw for a fifth and sixth to Jadyn Hardeman and Hunter McGreggor, to lead Windsor’s big night. 

Trinity, whose headmaster Larry Collins has stepped in to lead the Crusaders’ staff of four assistant coaches in the interim, will have an open week to continue regrouping before their final three games of the regular season, the next at home against Flint River Academy Oct. 16. 

They punched one in on their lone red zone opportunity as Will-J Harris took the ball off a misdirection play and over the goal line from two yards away with about a minute and a half remaining before the break. 

The scoring drive was a winding journey that nearly got sidetracked at several spots, as an original Jude Evans-to-Mason Lane touchdown pass got called back on a penalty, and Windsor intercepted a subsequent pass in the end zone that was ruled incomplete due to a foot out of bounds. 

But penalties for pass interference and roughing the passer got Trinity inside the Windsor 10, where Lane and Harris combined to cover the nine remaining yards to the end zone. 

The Crusaders, who were without a first down before the fifth Windsor touchdown directly preceding, would make some limited progress on a few more decent possessions in the second half.

But two of them ended in punts, and another with a turnover on downs (stemming from a costly false start), to rule out chipping away any further at the Knights’ lead, which would only grow as Ryder Dale returned the third quarter kick 80 yards for another touchdown, and two more explosive Woodard carries, covering roughly 40 and 70 each, added on in the fourth quarter. 

Friday’s game got off to a rough start for Trinity (2-5, 0-2 district) in all three phases. 

The Crusaders went three plays and out on their first possession of the game, then gave Windsor the ball at their own 20 after a bad punt snap. Jaquan Lewis rushed for the Knights’ first touchdown shortly after. 

A successful punt had them pinned inside their own 10 on the second turn, but Woodard hit Dale on a field-flipping pass play, and Jadyn Hardeman caught another for a touchdown to finish off a 90-plus yard trip to make it 15-0. 

Woodard turned short runs into two more scores, and Hunter McGreggor went 36 yards off the catch of a bubble screen to stretch the margin to 35-0 by early in the second quarter.