Blessed Trinity Rolls To Another Easy Playoff Win

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — After traveling one of the most demanding roads any Georgia high school championship football team had to endure last year, the Blessed Trinity Titans have encountered little resistance in the two games the team has played in this year’s playoffs.

The Titans on Friday, Nov. 15 rolled to their second straight playoff victory at home, defeating North Oconee 35-10 to reach the quarterfinals for the sixth consecutive year. Blessed Trinity had to win four games in a row on the road against four of the state’s top teams in Class AAAA last year to take the title, and could have avoided an away game next week had a universal coin toss by the Georgia High School Association not gone against them.

The Titans have had little success in recent years in coin tosses that determine home field for two teams of equal region ranking, and that’s the case again this season. BT will take its 12-0 record and No.1 ranking in AAAA to Covington on Friday, Nov. 23 to play fellow unbeaten Eastside High School, assuming the Eagles are able to get their grass field in acceptable condition for the game.

Because of the heavy rains in the Atlanta area last week, Eastside had to move its second-round playoff game against Burke County to Social Circle High School, which has an artificial turf field. Eastside advanced to the quarterfinals with a 42-35 victory over Burke County, and was awarded home field against the Titans thanks to that universal coin flip by the GHSA that gave the advantage to all teams placed higher in the bracket.

While BT went unbeaten in a region that included a pair of top 10 teams and played a rugged non-region schedule, Eastside won only two games during the regular season over teams with winning records, and like BT, drew a favorable pair of opponents in the first two rounds. The Eagles barely survived their second round game against Burke County, yielding five touchdowns, to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. While Eastside ended the regular season ranked fifth in AAAA, the Eagles have yet to prove they are better team than any of the four teams BT defeated
on the road en route to a state title last year.

Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin has enjoyed the easy draw that Titans have faced thus far, with arguably the three best teams in the state in AAAA other than the Titans in the opposite half of the bracket.

“We’re not overlooking or underestimating anybody,” said McFarlin, whose team has not been an upset victim in the playoffs in the eight seasons he has led the Titans.

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For the second straight week, Blessed Trinity faced a team that was not in the Titans league, and again had little difficulty advancing. The Titans led 39-0 at the half the previous week against Northwest Whitfield, winning 55-16, and led North Oconee 28-3 barely more than two minutes into the second quarter, having run the grand total of 10 plays from scrimmage to that point.

The BT defense scored the game’s first points, as standout linebacker J.D. Bertrand intercepted a tipped pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown with less than two minutes elapsed in the first period. North Oconee responded with its only sustained drive of the game, but stalled inside the Blessed Trinity 15 and settled for a field goal.

It took the Titans only three plays to cover 73 yards after the BT offense did not get on the field for the first eight minutes of the game. Jake Smith hit Ryan Davis for 35 yards on the second offensive play for Blessed Trinity, and Steele Chambers broke through the line for a 30-yard touchdown burst on the next snap.

The Titans went 66 yards in six plays to make it 21-3 early in the second quarter. Sophomore Jackson Hamilton, who did not play during the regular season due to injury after starting at cornerback on defense as a freshman, broke off a 39-yard run to key the drive, which also featured a nice catch by Carson Harof for 12 yards to the North Oconee 1. Chambers scored on the next play.
North Oconee fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and BT scored 20 seconds after Chambers’ touchdown, with Bertrand taking a screen pass 25 yards for as score. That was all the scoring for the first half, as Smith twice missed Davis deep downfield.

The Titans first series of the second half ended at the North Oconee 20 after a fourth down pass fell incomplete, but the Titans came right back with a 9-play, 62-yard drive that featured junior tailback Elijah Green. Last season, Green split time at tailback with Chambers, who is one of the Titans’ top defenders at linebacker. Green went down with an injury in BT’s third game this season, and did not play again until entering Friday’s game midway through the second quarter. He had runs of 29, 10 and 15 yards on the Titans’ lone second half scoring drive as the Titans reached the North Oconee 2, with Smith passing to Davis for 4 yards and the touchdown.

With BT leading 35-3, the fourth quarter was played with a running clock, and the Titans substituted liberally. North Oconee scored with under 40 seconds to play after recovering a Blessed Trinity fumble at the Titans’ 29. The BT defense held North Oconee to under 100 yards rushing and passing before the Titans’ reserves allowed the last-minute score. The Titans allowed 218 yards for the game and forced North Oconee (9-3) to punt on seven straight possessions between the two scores.

Blessed Trinity amassed 333 yards, with Smith completing 10 of 14 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Davis had four receptions for 57 yards, and Harof caught three passes for 41 yards. The Titans’ trio of tailbacks combined for 198 yards on 30 carries, with Green (18-74) getting the bulk of the work.

McFarlin said he wanted to get Green as much full contact action as he could, and let him shake off the rust as much as possible with the Titans holding a comfortable lead. Chambers carried only five times for 60 yards and Hamilton gained 64 yards on seven attempts, with McFarlin’s preference for Chambers to play as little on offense as possible to save him for defense.

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