MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Trinity Christian football team can expect something a bit different tonight than what its seen so far this season.
The Warriors (2-0) escaped the first two weeks of play unscathed and return home to host their third consecutive game — and inaugural homecoming football game — against Fairport Harding (Ohio) at 8 p.m.
Trinity coach Marcus Law, who attended high school in the Buckeye State before playing collegiately at WVU, said his team will need to look out for a type of mindset and style of play they haven’t seen from in-state foes.
“I expect them to bring some attitude,” he said. “Being from Ohio, it’s a different style of football and they’ll have a three or four hour drive down here. We have to stay calm, and that’s an issue that’s probably going to come up early in the game.
“We’re going to have to take things one play at a time, and if we get behind a score or two, we need to realize we don’t have to get it back all in one play.”
Freshman Davon Eldridge agrees.
“They’re very physical and they play hard. We’re going to need to rely on each other and have each other’s backs. If we’re able to calm each other down, we’re going to be fine,” he said.
The Skippers (1-1) bring a smashmouth style of play and hard-nosed mentality to the gridiron and enter Week 3 looking to right the ship after a 49-36 loss to Berkshire (Ohio) last Friday.
With a larger test looming than the young and inexperienced Warriors have seen, mental preparation will be crucial if the Warriors want to keep their undefeated season alive.
“For us to handle this, we need to stay focused and get everything right,” Eldridge said. “We can’t mess up and make simple mistakes — we have to play hard and we can’t be afraid of our opponents. We want to keep things flowing smooth and crisp.”
“We have to be mentally tough,” Law added. “We’ve attacked that beast in practice this week, and that’s something we’re going to need to rely on.”
The Warriors will take the field powered by a high-octane offense that is averaging 372 yards and 40 points per game this season. A run-first attack driven by a three-man running back stable, Trinity keeps the ball on the ground on 62 percent of its snaps.
It’s led by Eldridge offensively with 208 yards and five touchdowns on 21 carries. Levi Teets added 119 yards and two scores on 17 carries, while Calvin Blunt Jr. tallied 76 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Drew Boczek recorded 15 yards on five carries.
“We tell our running backs to stay on their track and trust the offensive line to do the job,” Law said. “We stress the running game a lot, and it opens up a lot of things for us. Nowadays with kids, they want to know the why behind things work, so we try to bring it all together to show that to them.”
“We’re going to have to stay fresh in the backfield, and our linemen are going to have to do a heck of a job,” Eldridge added. “For the running backs, we need to be patient and wait until the holes are open to make our reads. Our stable is very talented, and we know what we’re doing.”
