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Ground game, defense give Trinity win in conference opener

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New Trinity Hillers head football coach Dan Knause has implemented a mantra within his program.

“Do what we do.”

Friday against Connellsville was the culmination of that mantra. The Hillers ran the ball effectively and played stout defense all night as they beat the Falcons, 35-14, in the Class 4A Class Big Seven Conference.

The Hillers returned home coming off a 38-14 loss at Class 5A power Peters Township. Trinity was 1-2 on the season entering conference play and Knause was confident the tough early slate had helped his team.

“Elite competition forces you to dissect the little things you need to get better at,” Knause said. “We have a learn and grow mindset. We believe in daily development. Those games exposed where we need to improve, what we need to do, and we got to look at it as a blessing at this point.”

Connellsville started the season with a win at Albert Gallatin but were held scoreless in each of its last two games. In the offseason, Connellsville hired three new head football coaches, Chad Lembo, Jace McLean, and Mick Lilley.

“The reason we did it was the program was going to need a lot of time to pump life into it,” Lembo said. “We all have skill sets we bring to the table. Coach Lilley runs the offense. Coach McClean handles the defense. I coach the line on both sides of the ball, but I also handle a lot of our offseason training,” Lembo said.

The first quarter was a defensive battle with neither team being able to score. Trinity had two turnovers on downs and the Eagles were forced to punt twice. Falcons senior punter Benjamin Zavatchan was effective on his two attempts at flipping the field in favor of Connellsville, making it difficult for the Hillers’ offense.

Less than a minute into the second quarter, Trinity broke the scoreless tie with a 77-yard rush by junior running back Andrew During. Following a Connellsville punt, Hillers senior running back Joey Hello was able to run one in from 26 yards.

Two plays after a turnover on downs, the Hillers found the end zone again when Durig scored, this time from 40 yards out. Trinity scored on its ensuing drive when senior Roderick Moore plowed his way in at the goal line on a two-yard run.

The Hillers added one final score before the half when freshman quarterback Jonah Willamson found Durig deep down the sideline with 11 seconds remaining in the half. The touchdown and extra point made the score 35-0. This led to the second half of the game being played with a continuous clock.

With the clocking running throughout the second half, Knause decided to sit the majority of Trinity’s starters in the final two quarters. The Falcons seized the opportunity and scored twice in the fourth quarter.

Senior wide receiver Gabriel Ruggieri scored on a 16-yard rush on the second play of the quarter. With less than six minutes remaining in the game, junior wide receiver Jayden McBride hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Grayden Gillot.

Despite the two late scores, the Trinity defense stood tall all night. The Hillers allowed less than 50 yards total offense to the Falcons in the first half and 149 yards for the game.

“Our goal is to win battles, one play at a time, one series at a time,” Knause said about his defense. “We just want to out-execute our opponent and be in a position to win games in the fourth quarter.”

Trinity tailed 340 yards on the ground. The starting running back trio of Durig, Hello and sophomore Nico Mauro finished with 252 yards.

Trinity (2-2, 1-0) hits the road to McKeesport next Friday for a Big Seven Conference matchup with the Tigers.

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