Tiger Football Team Defeats Sewanee Saturday

Sewanee, Tennessee - Trinity's football team evened its season record with a 17-3 road win over Sewanee: University of the South on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity (3-3, 1-2 SCAC) earned its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference victory of the season, having fallen in its initial conference contests by 10 combined points.

The Tiger defense stood tall at Sewanee on Saturday, giving up just 138 yards of total offense, forcing two turnovers, and scoring a touchdown off of a turnover for the second straight game.

With Trinity clinging to a 10-3 lead late in the fourth quarter, Sewanee took over deep in their own territory with hopes of driving for a game-tying score.  On third-and-10, Garrett Van Dyke picked up a fumble as he crossed the goal line to seal the victory for the Tigers.

Trinity got on the board in the first quarter with a 36-yard field goal from Garrett Biel, but Sewanee answered late in the quarter to tie the game.  Sophomore quarterback Nykolas McKissic connected with senior wide receiver Caleb Urban for a 40-yard touchdown on the first Tiger drive of the second quarter. 

McKissic, who transferred from Jackson State, saw his first action of the season on Saturday.  He finished 12-23 for 175 yards and a touchdown, though he did have a pair of interceptions. 

Sophomore running back Patrick Granchelli had his second 100-yard game of the season, carrying the ball 20 times for 103 yards - an average of 5.2 yards/rush.  He also had three catches out of the backfield for 21 additional yards.

Urban led Trinity with four catches for 80 yards, also rushing eight times for 21 yards, and returning a kickoff 35 yards.  John Jackson caught a pair of passes from McKissic for 28 yards receiving, while Cory Scherr had a 37-yard reception.

While Trinity's offense did commit three turnovers, the defense made sure none of the mistakes turned into Sewanee points.  In fact, after the three turnovers by the offense, the Tiger defense allowed a total of 16 yards on the three ensuing drives by Sewanee.  Out of 13 offensive possessions by Sewanee, only three were longer than four plays, and only five covered more than 10 yards.

Jarrod Burns and Antonio Debouse combined to lead Trinity with eight tackles each, while Ben Robinson finished with seven total stops and a team-best four solo tackles.  Robinson also had 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery that he returned 29 yards to help finish off the win.

Thomas Puskarich and Reuben Lucas both recorded sacks in the game.  Van Dyke finished with three tackles to go along with his first career touchdown.

Next up for Trinity will be another SCAC showdown, but this time it will be against defending SCAC Champion DePauw University.  DePauw currently leads the SCAC with a 4-0 conference mark, and is also undefeated with a 6-0 overall record this season.