Blessed Trinity Wins State Football Championship

By Mike Blum

While thousands of 'Star Wars' fans across metro Atlanta packed into climate-controlled theaters Friday evening to watch the debut of the latest saga in the wildly popular franchise, fans of the Blessed Trinity Catholic High School football team were shivering in freezing temperatures at Marist’s cramped stadium to watch the two teams play for a state championship.

Blessed Trinity emerged with its first-ever state title, winning 16-7 over its region rival. Blessed Trinity avenged every loss of consequence the team has suffered in recent seasons, even striking a blow for the school’s basketball team along the way.

Of the Titans’ 13 wins this season season, six fit into the revenge category. BT opened the season with a 28-0 rout over lone-time rival Westminster, which rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter two years ago in the Class AAA championship at the Georgia Dome. The Wildcats won 38-31 with the aid of a BT fumble near the goal line in overtime.

Midway through the season, BT crushed Tennessee opponent McCallie 45-19, which thrashed the Titans
56-6 last year. After losing to Marist 25-24 on a last minute touchdown and two-point conversion late in the regular season, the Titans were facing elimination in the second round of the playoffs against top-ranked
Cartersville, which carried a 41-game winning streak and back-to-back state championships into the
game.

Instead, the Titans scored a stunning 21-17 upset, avenging a 24-23 second round playoff loss in Cartersville in 2012, with BT failing on a fake field goal attempt in the closing seconds that would have won the game.

In the quarterfinals, the Titans rolled to a 43-13 victory in Thomson, whose basketball team eliminated
BT in last year’s state playoffs. Blessed Trinity made up for its most recent football playoff loss in the semifinals, decisively defeating Mary Persons 28-7 in Forsyth, where the Titans lost 28-27 in last season’s quarterfinals after a missed field goal in the final seconds.

The Titans were forced to play a fourth straight road game against a state-ranked opponent for the state
AAAA title, as the originally scheduled game the previous weekend at the Mercedes Benz Stadium was postponed by the snowstorm that blanketed Atlanta and made road conditions dangerous.

Blessed Trinity won last year’s game at Marist 28-26 to win the region title, and repeated its road victory while avenging the 2017 regular season loss at home to the War Eagles that seemingly relegated the Titans to a second round defeat at the hands of seemingly unstoppable Cartersville. But the Titans upset the Purple Hurricanes and heralded senior quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first of four straight exceptional defensive efforts on the road against four of the best teams in AAAA football in the state.

Blessed Trinity yielded just 44 points in the four games, with Cartersville scoring one of its touchdowns on a punt return and Thomson scoring its second touchdown with BT leading 40-7 in the fourth quarter. In the win over Cartersville, the Titans shut down one of the state’s most productive passing offenses.

Friday night against Marist BT (13-2) stuffed Marist’s vaunted triple option ground game, limiting the War Eagles (14-1) to 44 yards on 27 rushing attempts, almost 200 yards below their season average. With the team’s running attack thwarted in the opening half, the War Eagles went to the air far more often than usual, but had little success other than one drive that was stopped on downs at the BT 30. Marist ran the ball more effectively in the second half, but did not score until there was just 3 ½ minutes to play to close within 14-7.

After being pinned inside its 10 by a punt from multi-talented, two-way starter Ryan Davis, the War
Eagles went back to the air, but the team’s quarterback was sacked in the end zone for a safety, locking
up the state title for the Titans.

Marist finished with just 168 yards of offense to 277 for the Titans. BT moved the ball effectively against
the War Eagles, but twice came away with no points after driving deep into Marist territory. The Titans dominated the opening quarter, driving 68 yards to take a 7-0 lead in the opening minute of the second period. Quarterback Jake Smith hit Davis three times on the march, the last one for nine yards and the touchdown. Will Carlton, making his first playoff start after missing four games due to illness, had a 20-yard reception to get the drive started.

Blessed Trinity threatened on its next series, but a Smith pass was intercepted after the Titans reached the Marist 13. The half ended with the Titans ahead 7-0 after their fourth down stop. The War Eagles moved into BT territory to start the second half but missed a field goal. A long run by sophomore Elijah Green and a fourth-and- inches conversion gave the Titans another scoring opportunity. After penetrating the Marist 5, the Titans were stopped on third down and the snap on a field goal attempt was mishandled.

The BT defense almost forced a safety, with Marist having to punt from its 1. The Titans then drove 35 yards, with Steele Chambers scoring on a 3-yard run to make it 14-0 with about nine minutes to play. Green led the Titans with 86 yards rushing on 15 attempts, with Chambers adding 51 yards, as BT finished with 166 yards in the ground. Smith was 11 of 12 passing for 111 yards and the one interception, with Davis catching seven passes for 61 yards.

Davis also had a tackle for loss on defense, returned a punt 25 yards and took over the punting duties during the game. Smith, who also starts at safety, led the team with six solo tackles. Linebacker J.D. Bertrand had four tackles and four assists, and lineman J.R. Bivens had two sacks and a third tackle for loss. The championship game was the second for BT and the third for head coach Tim McFarlin, who led Roswell to a share of the 2006 state championship in Georgia’s highest classification. That game ended in a tie, leading to the GHSA decision to utilize overtime in championship games.

Like the 2006 Roswell team, the 2017 Blessed Trinity squad primarily consists of juniors, and the Titans
were looking to 2018 as a more likely shot at a first state title after the departure of Lawrence and most of Cartersville’s talent.

The Titans graduate five senior starters on offense – Carlton, fullback Jake Rudolph and linemen Alex Vojnovic, Collins Monette and all-region selection Peter Renkoski. Rudolph, who also starts at
linebacker, is one of just a handful of seniors on defense along with lineman Raleigh Barden and Jacob Koelsch in the secondary.

Returning next season are two-way starters Chambers, Davis, Smith and Bertrand, who missed most of the season with an injury but returned to make a huge impact in the playoffs. For the season, Smith passed for 2,131 yards and 18 touchdowns, with Davis totaling 69 receptions for 1,274 yards and 12 TDs. Chambers and Green combined for 2618 yards and 33 rushing touchdowns, with both surpassing 1,300 yards. With Chambers also starting at linebacker, Green handled more of the rushing load as the season progressed.

Also returning on offense are linemen Jack Jacobs and Jack Filipowicz, who started as a sophomore. Bertrand, Chambers, Davis, Smith and Bivens all return on defense, along with ends Jake Lyons and sophomore Grayson Gilder, safety Alex Massey and Alex Poma and freshman Jackson Hamilton, who

also played in the secondary. Kicker Ethan Chauvin will also be back next season.

McFarlin will be looking to guide the Titans to a second straight state title in 2018, but retains the memories of the 2007 season, his last as head coach at Roswell. One year after sharing the state title, the Hornets lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual state champion.

The biggest difference between the 2006 Roswell and 2017 Blessed Trinity teams is the paths they took in the playoffs. Roswell did not face the toughest draw in its march to the finals, while the Titans survived one of the toughest group of opponents any Georgia state champion has faced.

Blessed Trinity was the fifth Roswell football team located just off Highway 92 to make it to a state championship game in the past three seasons. Roswell lost in the 2015 and ’16 finals, with Fellowship
Christian joining its nearby neighbors with a championship loss last season.

The three schools suffered one overtime loss each, but the Titans broke the shared losing streak Friday night.

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