Blessed Trinity Football Team Soars Under McFarlin

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — The history of Blessed Trinity Catholic High School football consists of two distinct time spans that are separated by the hiring of Tim McFarlin as head coach before the start of the 2011 season.

The Titans were a respectable team in its first nine seasons under Ricky Turner, who started the
program in 2001. Blessed Trinity played its first full varsity schedule in 2002 and during Turner’s tenure as head coach, went 50-43 with five winning seasons and only one regular season losing record. Blessed Trinity went 7-3 three times and won a sub-region title in 2005, but was never able to win a game at state.

After making the playoffs three times in the program’s first four seasons, BT missed out on post-season play the final five years under Turner's reign. Turner, it should be noted, stepped down as head coach in 2010 and became BT's athletic director, a post he continues to hold.

McFarlin, who served as Roswell High School's head football coach from 1998 to 2007, led that team 82-34-1 during his tenure. The Hornets made the playoffs in eight of McFarlin’s 10 seasons as head coach and went 23-4-1 in his last two seasons, sharing the state title in 2006 and losing to Lowndes County in the quarterfinals in 2007.

Following the 2007 season, McFarlin took a year off from coaching and returned as an assistant in 2009 at King’s Ridge Christian School and 2010 at Roswell. He could have remained at Roswell to become head coach again in 2011 or take a vacant job at Milton, where he starred on the football field in the 1970s.

However, McFarlin took a different path and replaced Turner as Blessed Trinity’s head coach, a move that's greatly benefited the football program. BT is 89-18-1 in McFarlin’s nine seasons as head coach, and will play for a second consecutive Class AAAA championship on Wednesday, Dec. 12 against Cartersville High School Purple Hurricanes at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

A victory would complete a perfect 15-0 season for the Titans, who are 64-6-1 the last six seasons under McFarlin. This is the third time the Titans have taken an unbeaten record into the state playoffs. They lost to Washington County 28-17 in the 2014 semifinals, the last time the team lost on its home field in the playoffs, and dropped a 38-31 overtime heart-breaker to region rival Westminster the following year at the Georgia Dome.

Since 2011, Blessed Trinity has enjoyed considerable success under McFarlin's leadership. The team won its sub-region that year before losing to Buford for a second time in the region championship game. It won its first state playoff game 44-19 over Heard County before losing 28-14 to Lamar County in the second round, finishing with a 7-5 record.

The Titans moved up from Class AA to AAA in 2012 and tied for St. Pius for first place in the region, with regular season victories over Westminster and region foes Woodward Academy and Cedar Grove. After a 35-14 win over White County in the first round of the state playoffs, the Titans lost at Cartersville 24-23 in the second round.

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The game against Cartersville represented the Titans' introduction to the top levels of competition in their classification, and they have remained there ever since. The 2013 BT team tied Woodward Academy for first in the region and finished with a 9-4 record, reaching the quarterfinals after a pair of easy playoff victories before being defeated by Washington County.

Blessed Trinity spent the entire 2014 season ranked third in the state behind No. 1 Washington County and No. 2 Calhoun, which defeated the Golden Hawks 27-20 in the state championship game. BT, which came into the game 13-0, made Washington County play to the end of the game for the first time all season, but were unsuccessful in is bid. The Titans went unbeaten in the 2015 regular season, tying Cedar Grove in the region championship game, which had to be halted due to inclement weather.

After rolling to three comfortable playoff victories to reach the semifinals, the Titans knocked off state No. 1 Calhoun 12-7 in Roswell to reach their first championship game. Blessed Trinity was ranked second in the state the entire season behind Calhoun, and went on to face region rival Westminster in the championship game. BT won the regular season game against the Wildcats 24-10, but lost 38-31 in overtime at the Georgia Dome. The Wildcats erased a 14-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter, tying the game with a pair of touchdowns in a 13-second span with the aid of a recovered onside kick.

Senior tailback Milton Shelton, one of three first team all-state players for BT that season, rushed for 259 yards, but lost a fumble in overtime reaching for the goal line to end the Titans’ hopes of a first state title.

That Blessed Trinity team was a senior-dominated squad, with the 2016 team a largely sophomore
group. Playing in AAAA for the first time, the Titans won their region with a late-season victory at Marist, and did not lose a game to a Georgia opponent until suffering another heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals.

The Titans missed a 28-yard field goal with 7 seconds to play in a 28-27 loss at Mary Persons, but used the disappointment of that defeat plus the overtime setback in the championship game the previous year to come back in 2017 and win a state title.

Blessed Trinity lost to Marist 25-24 at home during the regular season and finished second in the region behind the War Eagles, forcing the Titans to win their last four playoff games on the road.
The big win came in the second round, as BT upset No. 1-ranked Cartersville 21-17, ending the Purple Hurricanes’ 41-game winning streak and hopes of a third straight state title.

The Titans rolled over Thomson 43-13 in the quarterfinals and Mary Persons 28-7 in the semifinals before another outstanding defensive effort powered a 16-7 win at Marist in the championship game.

The Titans will bring a 14-0 record into the championship game against Cartersville, which is also 14-0. BT has been ranked No. 1 in the state the entire season, with Cartersville entering the playoffs ranked second behind the Titans.

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