Published: 12:37 AM, Sat Nov 14, 2009
Champions: Trinity takes home third straight state championship
By Junious Smith III
Correspondent
Trinity Christian 36, St. David's 25
Earlier this year, Trinity Christian defeated St. David's at home 38-27 in the regular season. With the NCISAA 8-Man Championship and their long winning streak on the line, the Crusaders maintained the consistency that has kept them on top since 2007.
Damien Steadman ran for 240 yards and all five touchdowns as the Trinity Christian Crusaders won their third consecutive state championship, defeating the St. David's Warriors 36-25 at Wyatt Athletic Field. The win was a record 38th straight for the Crusaders, and it came against the team that had played them the toughest all season.
"We have had a bullseye on our back all year long for the consecutive win streak," Trinity Christian coach Chuck Webster said. "My hat goes off to (the team) for growing up a lot and building their character, which was on display (for this game)."
Early on it seemed it would be another easy win for Trinity Christian (12-0). Steadman ran for a 44-yard touchdown on the Crusaders' first offensive play after the defense forced St. David's to turn it over on downs. Then, after a Michael Mathis interception of St. David's quarterback Forrest Brandt, Steadman had a 31-yard sprint for a 16-0 advantage with 7:29 left in the opening period.
Brandt, the 1-A NCISAA Player of the Year, capped off an 11-play, 5-minute drive with a 25-yard run to narrow the gap to 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Trinity Christian scored on a 59-yard run by Steadman, but only led 22-11 at halftime after Brandt kicked a 30-yard field-goal as time expired.
St. David's (10-2) had their chances in the third quarter but Brandt missed two field goals, one from 47 yards that sailed wide right, and another from 20 yards that hit the right goal post. Brandt was 1 for 4 kicking in three-point tries. He did; however, rush for 192 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown with 5:59 in the fourth quarter. A two-point conversion by Raine McMillan closed the gap to 22-19 and had the Trinity Christian faithful restless in the stands.
On the very next play, Steadman gave the Crusader fans something to cheer about, faking a handoff, bursting through the middle, and outrunning defenders toward a 67-yard gamebreaking touchdown with 5:40 to go and have the stadium rocking.
"We didn't want to be the ones to mess the streak up," Steadman said. "Instead, we wanted to keep it alive."
On St. David's next posession, Brandt was intercepted for the second time by Michael Mathis and Steadman punched in his fifth touchdown as insurance. Fittingly McFadden and Whithead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" played over the PA system.
Forrest Brandt, who connected with Cameron Coker with 1:34 to go to close out the scoring, was 12 of 25 for 136 yards passing. For Trinity Christian, Jay Brown had 14 carries for 63 yards.
Trinity Christian 36, St. David's 25
St. David's
8
3
0
14-25
Trinity Christian
16
6
0
14-36
TC - Damien Steadman 44 run (Chris Clayton run)
TC - Steadman 31 run (Marcus Carswell run)
SD - Forrest Brandt 25 run (Matthews Comer pass from Brandt)
TC - Steadman 59 run (run failed)
SD - Brandt 30 field goal
SD - Brandt 23 run (Raine McMillan run)
TC - Steadman 67 run (Steve Johnson pass from Steadman)
TC - Steadman 3 run (pass failed)
SD - Cameron Coker 11 pass from Brandt (pass failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: SD - Brandt 28-192, McMillan 10-20. TC - Steadman 10-240, Jay Brown 14-63, Carswell 7-23, Michael Mathis 5-16, Pablo Arroyo 1-3, Clayton 1-2.
Passing: SD - Brandt 12-25-2-136. TC - Steadman 1-5-1-13.
Receiving: SD - Comer 5-55, McMillan 3-44, Anthony Thomas 2-24, Coker 2-23. TC - Johnson 1-13.