Blessed Trinity Offense Prevails In Victory Over Troup

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — After rolling to easy victories in the first three rounds of the state Class AAAA football playoffs, the Blessed Trinity Titans expected more of a test from a talented Troup County High School team in the Nov. 30 semi-final contest in Roswell.

That expectation partly came true, as the Troup tigers offense kept the Titans on their toes until the Roswell team was able to hold on and defeat the west-central Georgia team 51 to 35.

The victory sends the defending state champion Titans, who are 14-0, into the title game for the third time in the last four seasons, with the contest set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Cartersville, who is also undefeated at 14-0. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 8, but Atlanta United will host its major league soccer championship game in the stadium that night.

Blessed Trinity and Troup combined for more than 980 yards of offense and punted just twice each, only one of the four coming after the opening quarter. Blessed Trinity had difficulty with the talent of Troup’s skill position players, especially elusive quarterback Kobe Hudson, who rushed for 159 yards, passed for 191 yards and had a hand in all five of his team’s touchdowns.

While Troup (12-2) had 439 yards total offense, the Titans rolled up 544 yards against a Troup defense that had played well in its three previous playoff games. The Tigers could not stop the determined running of Blessed Trinity tailback Steele Chambers, who battled for 240 of the Titans’ 335 rushing yards on 36 carries.

Troup also had no answer for Blessed Trinity’s passing game, which accounted for 209 yards and three touchdowns on just eight completions. The three passing touchdowns for the Titans came on plays of 94, 23 and 36 yards, with no Troup defender anywhere near the receiver on any of the three. Quarterback Jake Smith was 7 of 11 for 186 yards and two touchdowns and ran for the first Blessed Trinity score. Chambers, who rushed for three touchdowns, also threw for a score on a halfback pass that caught the Troup defense completely unprepared.

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Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin had praise for his entire offensive unit, citing Chambers, Smith, tight end James Bryant, wide receiver Ryan Davis and particularly the line, which gave Chambers some room to run and Smith the time to find his receivers.

McFarlin said his first observation was that “the offensive line did a pretty good job against some guy who were a little bigger than they were.”

Defensively, the Titans played the entire game without J.R. Bivens, the team’s best lineman, and lost its top defender — linebacker J.D. Bertrand — in the second quarter. The Titans could never chase down Hudson for sacks, but pressured him several times into dangerous passes, three of which the Blessed Trinity secondary intercepted.

Hudson, a star wide receiver the previous two seasons and an Auburn commit, played quarterback for the first time this season, accounting for 4350 yards and 45 touchdowns coming into Friday’s game. He completed 13 of 36 passes against the Titans, with his receivers dropping a number of potential catches and the Blessed Trinity pass rush forcing Hudson into some hurried heaves that were off target. The Titans were never in serious trouble, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead and answering the Tigers every time their explosive offense cut into Blessed Trinity's advantage.

Carson Harof returned the opening kickoff 83 yards and Smith kept for 9 yards and the score on the next play to put the Titans ahead just 24 seconds into the game. The Titans defense played well early, with Davis intercepting a pass on Troup’s second play of the game and the Titans forcing a pair of punts, one after the Tigers had a 49-yard touchdowns pass nullified by a penalty.

Chambers made it 14-0 on a 38-yard scoring run, carrying four times for 68 of the 75 yards on the 6-play drive. Troup came back with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Hudson on fourth-and-10, but that was as close as the Tigers got the rest of the night.

The Titans responded with a 14-play, 83-yard drive, with Chambers carrying 11 times for 61 yards,
including a 9-yard run for the touchdown. Davis added an 18-yard reception and the Titans also got out of a first-and-21 hole on the march. The Blessed Trinity defense sparked a late second quarter surge that gave the Titans a temporarily comfortable lead.

The Titans stopped the Tigers on fourth-and-goal from the 4, chasing Hudson back more than 30 yards before his desperation pass fell incomplete. Two plays later, Bryant found a hole in the Troup defense along the sideline on what was intended to be a completion of maybe 15 yards. With no Troup defenders in the same zip code, the Blessed Trinity tight end raced into the end zone untouched to complete a 94-yard scoring play and give the Titans a 27-6 lead with 2:32 left in the first half.

Quinton Reese made a leaping interception of a rushed Hudson throw on the first play after the kickoff to give the Titans the ball at the Troup 23, and Chambers threw a halfback pass to a wide open Davis for the score on the next play. Davis, who had an early interception for the Titans, caught six passes for 79 yards. That made it 34-6 with 2:11 on the clock, but the speedy Hudson ran the Tigers into scoring range before tossing a 26-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds remaining to cut Blessed Trinity's lead to 34-12 at the half.

After Harof intercepted a pass on the second play of the third quarter, the Troup defense forced just the second Titans punt and blocked it. Hudson scampered into the end zone from 26 yards out on the next play to cut the Titans’ advantage to 34-20.

A 29-yard run by Chambers led to a 33-yard field goal by Ethan Chauvin, but Hudson directed the Tigers on another scoring drive to pull them within 37-27 with 3:11 left in the period. The Titans responded with a 69-yard drive, with Smith completing all three pass attempts for 58 yards and a 36-yard touchdown to Bryant, who again slipped unnoticed into the Troup secondary. He had only two catches on the night, but they went for 130 yards and two scores.

After the Tigers dropped a fourth down pass from the Blessed Trinity 37, the Titans again struck quickly to expand their lead. Tailback Elijah Green, who missed most of the season with an injury, broke loose for 59 yards on his first carry of the game, and Chambers scored from the 4 on the next play to make it 51-27 with 8:30 left in the game.

Hudson connected on his third touchdown pass of the night three minutes later, but Troup never got the ball back, as the Titans drove inside the Tigers’ 10 before the clock ran out. The Titans have relied primarily on their defense this season, but the combination of Troup’s talent and some injuries to key Blessed Trinity players made it a different kind of game than what their fans have become accustomed to.

“Troup can score in bunches,” McFarlin said. “They are so talented, and they put so much stress on your defense.”

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