MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — “This stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job.”
Jim Halpert’s final quote of “The Office” series finale was about his job as a salesman at Dunder Mifflin, but it could easily describe — except boring — Trinity’s first varsity football game in a decade.
The Warriors opened their season Friday night at home against Mapletown (Pa.), and it offered excitement, confusion, learning curves, tough lessons, big plays and, most importantly, a Trinity win, 38-34.
“One thing we talked about was winning every play — that was our goal,” Trinity head coach Marcus Law said. “We knew if we could win more plays than what they win, we were gonna come out on top.”
Trinity (1-0) made the plays at the end to win, especially defensively. After struggling most of the game, the Warriors got a crucial stop on 4th down with 28 seconds to go when freshman Davon Eldridge sacked Mapletown quarterback Max Vanata.
But the beginning of the game was full of growing pains for not just the players and coaches, but nearly everyone involved with the Trinity football revival.
The game clock and play clock continuously needed to be reset, the water and ball boys were getting their first game experience and learning where to be at the right time and players were asking the officials where they needed to stand pre-snap.
By the second half, with Mapletown (1-1) leading 26-22, the nerves and kinks seemed to be sorted out and the flow improved. Total, there were nine lead changes and five touchdowns over 20 yards.
Maples running back Landan Stevenson finished with 199 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and also caught a 65-yard score from Vanata.
However, it was the newcomers for the Warriors who made the most important plays in the end.
“Our skill guys are young, and they shed that adversity tonight, which is really big,” Law said. “The young guys grew up. You look at [Jonathon] Moore with that stutter-go (route that went for a 34-yard touchdown catch) … he wasn’t doing that before. That’s a testament to those guys putting in the work.”
Freshman quarterback Drew Boczek finished 13-20 for 189 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions but looked poised on critical downs. Trinity finished 5 for 5 on fourth-down conversions. Moore, also a freshman, caught the long touchdown, and Levi Teets, a freshman, caught and ran in a score.
Eldridge — you guessed it, a freshman — coughed up the ball on the first carry of the game but redeemed himself by throwing and running for a touchdown.
The young guys weren’t the only ones making plays for the Warriors — senior Fletcher Hartsock, who played three soccer games this week for Trinity, caught three passes for 70 yards and a touchdown and also grabbed a critical two-point conversion on Trinity’s final score.
“This was an overall team effort. It was amazing,” Hartsock said. “We’re a family here. We have a small group of guys but we’re a family. We all made some plays tonight and we all stuck together, which is the most important thing.”
Trinity will host Hannan at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6.
