By Merle Bertrand
The Southwestern Pirates renewed a rivalry against the Trinity Tigers (San Antonio, TX) and found out just how much ground they have to make up to be a power in the Southland Athletic Association.
The Tigers broke open a competitive game against the stubborn Pirates in the second half, demonstrating why they’re the sixth-ranked team in the country (D3football.com) with a 57-7 win on Saturday at Georgetown ISD’s Birkelbach Field.
Despite the lopsided score, the Pirates hung tough in the first half.
After Austin Vandegrift product Ryan Merrifield hauled in a pass from 5th-year senior Tucker Horn (Graham) to open the scoring, the Pirates assembled a nice drive on their second possession, only to come up empty on a missed FG.
Horn then capped off an 8-play, 80-yard drive with a 10 yard pass to Casey Hampton (Westbury Christian); Caleb Crawford (Strake Jesuit) hauled in a 40-yarder from Horn and Caleb Harmel (Burton) took a fake punt 52 yards to stake the Tigers to a 26-0 second quarter lead.
But the Pirates embarked on an 8-play, 75 yard drive of their own, capped off by Colby Bartlett’s (Godley) 3-yard plunge to pull within 26-7 – but that would be as close as Southwestern would get.
Merrifield snared a 22-yard strike from Horn; former Vandegrift QB Ryan Back tossed a 39-yarder to Ethan Boyer and a 41-yarder to Hampton; and Collin Bishop (Childress) added a 47-yard bomb to Berend Kahlden (Lago Vista) to complete the scoring.
Although Saturday’s matchup marked their first meeting as SAA foes, Southwestern and Trinity had faced each other twice a year and eight times overall as members of the SCAC since Southwestern restarted their football program in 2013. The Tigers won the first six matchups, but Southwestern took the last two, including their last previous meeting in 2016, enroute to the Pirates’ SCAC championship.
The Pirates (1-7, 1-5 SAA) have a bye this week before travelling to Jackson, MS to face Millsaps. Trinity (6-1, 5-0) hosts Millsaps Saturday in San Antonio.