Tiger Football Wins Double-Overtime Thriller Over Howard Payne

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San Antonio - Trinity's football team opened up its 2010 season with a thrilling 40-34 double-overtime win over Howard Payne University on Saturday night.

Trinity (1-0) played to a tie in regulation for the first time since a first round playoff game in 2003, but it was the first double-overtime game under Head Coach Steve Mohr, who opened his 21st season Saturday night.

“It was my first double-overtime at Trinity," said Coach Mohr.  "It was a battle all the way. We got up on them and you have to give them credit for battling back and tying the game."

After Trinity opened the scoring with Garrett Biel's 30-yard field goal in the first quarter, Howard Payne answered immediately with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Andre Dean.  HPU then ran in the extra point after a botched snap to take an 8-3 lead.

Trinity finished off the first quarter scoring when QB Robert Davidson connected for the first of two touchdowns to Daniel South.  Davidson finished 18-31 for 221 yards and three scores in the game.  South led the Tigers with 68 receiving yards and two touchdowns on just two catches.

After Howard Payne's Zach Hubbard finally got his team's offense on the scoreboard with a short pass early in the second quarter, Trinity answered right back with another TD pass from Davidson - this time to Caleb Urban.  Urban finished with seven catches for 53 yards receiving, as well as piling up 101 yards on three kickoff returns. 

Mitchell Bailey gave HPU the halftime lead with a 44-yard field goal late in the second quarter.  Bailey was nearly the hero for the Yellow Jackets, as he finished with an impressive four field goals made in the game.  Two of those field goals were from 50-yards out - one of which opened the fourth quarter scoring, and the other tied the game 34-34 to finish the first overtime period.

Coach Mohr was also impressed not only with Bailey, but with Howard Payne overall: "He hit two 50-yarders under really extreme pressure. You have to give Howard Payne a lot of credit. I think they are an up and rising football team."

After Bailey's first 50-yard FG, Patrick Granchelli scored the first of his two touchdowns to tie the game 24-24 early in the fourth quarter.  After the Tiger defense came up with a stop, the offense went back to work, and marched 76 yards in just six plays to take the lead with South's second TD catch of the night.
 
Granchelli made his first start as Trinity's running back, and despite enjoying a solid game most of the night, he did come out after losing a key fumble in the third quarter.  He finished with 88 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, and six receptions for 45 more yards. 

Howard Payne was able to tie the game once again, though, scoring with just over two minutes left in regulation.  Neither team was able to move the ball in the final minutes, setting up overtime. 

After Biel hit his second field goal of the night from 20 yards out, Bailey connected on his second 50-yarder of the game to keep the game going, shocking the Trinity fans, but electrifying HPU's bench and contingent of fans that made the trip to San Antonio.

Trinity's defense held in the second overtime, and Bailey missed a 33-yard field goal to set up the winning drive for the Tigers.

Despite the turnover, Coach Mohr "went with a gut feeling" about putting Granchelli back in the game, and it paid off.  The Tiger sophomore ran three times for 25 yards and the winning score.

“I just didn’t want to give them the ball again," admitted Granchelli.  "We were struggling for four long quarters and double-overtime. I just wanted to put it away.”

Senior running back Kyle Lewis also played well for the Tigers, leading the team with 91 yards on just 15 carries.  Wide receiver Riley Walker grabbed three catches for 55 yards in his first start as a Tiger.

Defensively, Antonio Debouse and Thomas Puskarich led Trinity with 10 tackles each.  Jonathan Osei-Kuffour and Jarrod Burns had nine stops for the Tigers as well. 

The Tigers put up 429 yards of total offense in the game, giving up 351 to Howard Payne.  Trinity's balanced attack gave them over 200 yards on the ground and in the air.

Trinity is off next week, but returns home September 18 in the SCAC opener against Rhodes.