Blessed Trinity Titans Advance To Football Semifinals

By Mike Blum

ROSWELL, GA — After three weeks of totally dominating outclassed opponents in the state AAAA high school football playoffs, Blessed Trinity Catholic High School will likely to gets its first serious post-season challenge when the Titans host Troup County High School at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30 in the semifinals.

Blessed Trinity has won its three playoff games by scores of 55-16, 35-10 and 42-15, respectively, and all three contests were even more lopsided than the final scores indicate. The Titans led Northwest Whitfield 39-0 at the half before allowing 16 points in the third quarter in the first round. They held a 28-3 advantage over North Oconee barely two minutes into the second quarter
of the second round, and went to halftime in last week’s 42-15 victory in Covington over Eastside ahead 35-0.

Neither NW Whitfield nor North Oconee was expected to give the defending state champions much of a contest, and that proved to be the case for both teams. Eastside, however, came into last week’s game unbeaten and state-ranked, but the Eagles were no more competitive on their home field than BT’s first two opponents had been in Roswell.

Eastside was one of two teams in AAAA that went unbeaten during the regular season before being
decisively defeated at home in the playoffs. Pickens, also an undefeated region champion, lost 53-14 to Troup in the second round. The Troup Tigers come into Friday’s game 12-1 (BT is 13-0) after a narrow 20-17 win last Friday at Cairo, one of two region champions they have defeated the last two weeks.

Troup’s only defeat came during the final week of the regular season, with the Tigers losing 43-10 at Cartersville in the game that decided the Region 5-AAAA championship. Blessed Trinity won the Region 7-AAAA title with a 10-7 victory over Marist the next-to-last week of the regular season, and the four teams that finished 1-2 in regions 5 and 7 will be playing Friday in the
semifinals. Marist will take on Cartersville in the other semifinal.

Troup may be the most talented team Blessed Trinity has faced this season, with the Tigers led by standout junior quarterback Kobe Hudson along with several seniors who are SEC-caliber recruits. The Tigers feature a high-powered offense led by Hudson, who has passed for 3150 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushed for 1200 yards and 10 touchdowns. Troup has two other backs who have combined for 1500 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns, with Hudson having a trio of receivers who have a total of 101 catches for 2338 yard and 24 touchdows, with all three averaging 22 or 23 yards per reception.

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Troup’s skill position players have put up their impressive numbers against a schedule filled with playoff teams, but the Tigers were limited to 10 points by Cartersville and 20 points in wins over Cedartown and Cairo. Troup averages 37.5 points per game, and scored 42 and 53 points in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The Tigers will go against a Blessed Trinity defense that may be the best in the state in AAAA. Only
Woodward Academy has scored more than two touchdowns in a non-overtime game against the Titans, those coming in a 43-21 loss to the Titans early in the season.

BT is led defensively by the senior trio of J.D. Bertrand, Steele Chambers and J.R. Bivens, with Bivens hampered in the playoffs by a leg injury. The Titans’ secondary will be tested by Hudson and his talented group of receivers, but BT has some talent and experience in its defensive backfield. Seniors Jake Smith and Ryan Davis, junior Quinton Reese and sophomore Chase Harof face their toughest challenge of the season, but may get some help with the return of Jackson Hamilton, who started at cornerback as a freshman but missed the entire regular season with an injury.

Hamilton has made a significant impact offensively in the playoffs at tailback, with Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin having three players he can use at the position. Chambers is the starter, but McFarlin hopes to limit his role on offense if possible due to his vital presence in the BT defense. Elijah Green, who split time at tailback with Chambers last season during the Titans’ march to a state title, has also recently returned after a long absence from injury, and teamed with Chambers and Hamilton to provide BT with an unstoppable running game in last week’s win over Eastside.

Between them, BT’s trio of tailbacks carried 39 times for 357 yards and five of the Titans’ six
touchdowns. Hamilton led the way with 16 carries for 181 yards and three touchdowns, with Chambers contributing 124 yards and two scores on 17 attempts. Greene gained 52 yards on six carries.

The Titans dominated the first half against Eastside on both sides of the ball. The Eagles could not do anything against the BT defense, and the Titans’ offense took advantage of consistently excellent field position.

The first two BT touchdown drives started around midfield, with Chambers scoring on runs of 4 and 9 yards. Hamilton scored on a 27-yard run to make it 21-0 and Davis got behind the Eastside defense to catch a 39-yard scoring pass from Smith. The only other catch by Davis set up the first BT touchdown, with Smith 3 of 6 for 59 yards in difficult weather conditions.

Hamilton made it 35-0 at the half with a 10-yard touchdown run after the Titans recovered a fumble. Hamilton also scored BT’s final touchdown on a 10-yard run after the first of two Eastside scores in the second half.

Blessed Trinity dominated the game statistically, outgaining Eastside 443 yards to 87 with 20 first downs to 4 for the Eagles. Eastside converted only one of eight third downs and lost two fumbles.
This is the seventh straight season Blessed Trinity has won at least one game in the state playoffs since McFarlin took over as head coach prior to the 2012 season. The Titans have advanced to at least the quarterfinals each of the last six seasons and are in the semis for the fourth time in five years.

Troup has advanced past the second round for just the first time since 2003 and was a combined 4-16 in 2014 and ’15 before returning to the playoffs and winning a game last year. Friday’s winner will play the victor in the Marist-Cartersville match for the state AAAA champion on Dec. 8 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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