Trinity rolls to road win over Marbury

Ja’Michael Jones races past the Marbury defense in Trinity’s win on Friday. (Dylan Hurst)

By DYLAN HURST

MARBURY -- After a slow start, Trinity rolled to its fourth consecutive victory with a 30-3 win over the Marbury Bulldogs on Friday night.

“I’m very proud of how our boys competed,” Trinity coach Granger Shook said. “We were very physical against a really big opponent, and how our guys came out after we made those adjustments and were able to sustain drives. To come into someone else’s place and win, at this time of the year, I’m really proud of how our boys competed and adjusted.”

Despite injuries and illness, the Wildcats (5-1) have won four straight games since falling to Montgomery Academy in double overtime on Aug. 26.  

Junior quarterback Walker McClinton completed 6 of his 12 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Ja’Michael Jones, pressed into a starting role after a pair of season-ending injuries, carried the ball 17 times for a career-high 143 yards and two rushing touchdowns.

Junior wide receiver Webber McClinton had two catches for 96 yards and a touchdown, while also contributing a 20-yard interception return on defense.

Senior wide receiver DM Lieux had three receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown.   

The Bulldogs (2-4) were hoping to build on last week’s win at Tallassee and showed some offensive flashes against the Wildcats but were held to a second-half field goal by Baylor Cannon.

Junior quarterback Wyatt Fowler completed 9 of 13 passes for 62 yards, while also rushing five times for 30 yards. Junior running back Carsyn Cobb ran the ball 14 times for 34 yards.

The Wildcats struck first early in the second quarter with a 90-yard bomb by the McClinton brothers as Walker connected with Webber for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Their next possession was capped off by a 27-yard touchdown run by Jones, who followed that up with a 19-yard touchdown run on the next possession to give Trinity a 20-0 lead.

The two sides traded field goals in the second half as the Wildcats’ Michael Wilson converted a field goal in answer to Cannon’s kick. McClinton then completed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Lieux for Trinity’s final points.  

The two programs haven’t met since 2009 and it was Trinity’s first time facing the Bulldogs as a 5A team. Marbury was a Class 1A program in 11 of the previous 13 meetings.

The Bulldogs will travel to Selma next week seeking their first win in region play this season, while the Wildcats are heading to York to take on Sumter Central in a region game.