STJ-TPS: Trojans top Wildcats for region title
Cosner Harrison avoids tacklers during St. James’ win over Trinity on Friday. (Ryan Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
St. James cruised to an impressive first-half lead over Trinity, but the Trojans would find themselves in an all-out war in the second half of Friday’s game at Ragsdale-Boykin Field.
“They’re a tough team and it’s a big rivalry, so we knew they were going to come out hot,” St. James senior Cosner Harrison said. “It just took us a little bit to adjust. We just have to learn to come out with more intensity at the half.”
The Trojans would fight off a potential game-tying drive in the fourth quarter, then march to a game-clinching field goal in a 37-21 win that gave St. James the 3A Region 3 championship.
“Beating Trinity for the region championship is a dream come true,” Harrison said. “Big rivals, big game, big stakes. I’m glad we won it.”
Harrison rushed for 154 yards on 28 carries, drawing within 591 yards of the school’s career rushing leader, Tony Amerson. He would carry the ball eight times on a 13-play, 97-yard drive late in the first quarter that gave the Trojans a 14-0 lead after an initial possession scored on the first play, a 79-yard strike from KJ Jackson to Ethan Beard.
After Trinity’s Walker McClinton threw a third-and-11 pass that deflected off of defensive back Clint Houser’s hands into the arms of Norris Pemberton for a 19-yard touchdown, Beard’s 40-yard kickoff return got the Trojans rolling again. Six plays later, Harrison ran the final 3 yards for a 21-7 lead and the Trojans appeared almost unstoppable.
“We just had a really good run game set up,” Harrison said. “We felt like they would be trying to cover the pass more so we hit them with the run and just kept running it until they decided to stop it. Then we hit them with the pass.”
“We weren’t lined up right,” Trinity coach Granger Shook said. “Then on several of those runs, we just missed tackles. They have really good players. No. 5 (Harrison) is an all-state running back for a reason and No. 2 (Ethan Beard) made us look silly a couple of times.
Harrison, who averaged eight yards a carry in the first half, managed just 3.6 in the second half as the Trinity defense tightened up.
“Hats off to Jimmy (Perry) and his group,” Shook said. “They got their boys ready, they were ready to play. Our boys were not, but we did make some adjustments. We played good enough to win, we just missed too many opportunities. We had guys open and didn’t hit them, we had two busted coverages. When you’re playing a team like that, you can’t have busted coverages. Our eyes were in the wrong place but that’s my job to get them ready and I didn’t get them ready.
“It was poor execution at the beginning of the game but I’m proud of how our boys came out in the second half. We got a big interception and got points, got it to a one-score game, but couldn’t finish it out.”
The interception, a Fleming Hall grab at the St. James’ 32 on the third play of the second half, seemed to energize the Wildcats. Nine plays later, McClinton’s quarterback sneak pulled Trinity within 21-14 and from that moment on, both teams had to fight for every inch.
“They got the turnover coming out of the half and it gave them a lot of momentum and we had to change that momentum,” Perry said. “They are a very well-coached football team, their kids play hard. It was a very close ballgame -- closer than the score indicated -- and I’m very proud of our kids for showing some resilience, bowing their backs at the end and winning the ballgame.”
The Trojans would get a little breathing room on the second blown coverage by the Trinity secondary, resulting in a 34-yard Jackson touchdown throw to a wide-open Ziggy Holloway, but the Wildcats answered with a little magic of their own as McClinton connected with his younger brother Webber on a fourth-and-nine pass for 36 yards, hitting Webber McClinton in the middle of the end zone over Holloway.
That was as close as Trinity would get. On the Wildcats’ next possession, the defensive front by St. James finally put some pressure on McClinton, resulting in three consecutive incomplete passes that turned the ball over on downs at the Trinity 44-yard line with 5:23 left.
“We came out slow but we picked it up in the end and we got back on it and played like we were supposed to play,” Holloway said.
The Trojans chewed up the clock, marching as far as the Trinity 13-yard line before Jacob Huff kicked a 31-yard field goal with 50 seconds left for a 31-21 lead.
“We were just trying to grind the clock and get some yards out of it,” Harrison said. “They were loading up for the run game.”
On Trinity’s final possession, a McClinton pass over the middle was intercepted by Holloway -- his second of the game -- and returned 74 yards for a touchdown as time expired.
“I heard my coach going, ‘go down,’” Holloway said. “I was like, oh, I’ve got to take it back. Exclamation point.”
St. James beat Trinity for the sixth time in the last seven games, the best stretch by the Trojans in series history.
The win was the 16th consecutive region victory by the Trojans and gave them back-to-back region championships for the first time in school history. (The program did win three consecutive area titles in 1997-99 before the Alabama High School Athletic Association switched to larger regions the following year).
“We’re proud to win the region championship,” Perry said. “Now we get to be the No. 1 seed. Hopefully this year in the playoffs, we won’t draw somebody else’s No. 1 seed that forfeited some games” as they did last year in facing Anniston in the first round of the 4A playoffs.
St. James (6-2) will return home to play Sumter Central next week. Trinity (6-2) is virtually assured of the second seed as the favorite in their remaining two region games, traveling to PCA next week before returning home to play Greensboro in two weeks.