Tiger Football Falls at Huntingdon on Saturday

Montgomery, Ala. - Trinity's 24-point second quarter was not enough to overcome a 56-30 loss to the Huntingdon Hawks Saturday afternoon in a non-conference game at W. James Samford Jr. Stadium.

Trinity, which has lost its last two games, now stands at 3-5, and Huntingdon improved to 5-4. The two teams have now met three times, and the Tigers had previously won the last two encounters. Trinity beat Huntingdon 24-13 in Montgomery, during the 2006 season, and the Tigers won 15-10 in 2005, in San Antonio.

Rallying from an early 14-0 lead by the Hawks, Tiger kicker Garrett Biel put Trinity on the board with a 20-yard field goal in the second period. Quarterback Nykolas McKissic then threw the first of three touchdown passes in the quarter, connecting on a 43-yarder to Caleb Urban.

Huntingdon went up 21-10, but McKissic answered with a 5-yard TD pass to Cory Scherr. After another Hawks score put them up 28-17, Patrick Granchelli snagged an 11-yard touchdown pass from McKissic, as Trinity closed to 24-28 with 55 seconds left in the half. But 41 seconds later, the Hawks added on another TD to lead 35-24 at halftime.

In the second half, Huntingdon began to pull away.  The only score of the third period was by Huntingdon, which took a 42-24 lead.  Huntingdon outscored Trinity 14-6 in the final stanza. McKissic rushed for a 5-yard touchdown, but the extra-point attempt was blocked.
 
McKissic completed 19-37 for 292 yards passing, accounting for all four of Trinity's touchdowns (three passing, one rushing).  Scherr caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, and Urban snagged three for 69 yards and a TD. Granchelli had 11 attempts for 42 yards rushing, while Urban rushed six times for 33 yards.

Urban also recorded eight kickoff returns for 193 yards, with a long gain of 32 yards. Both his eight returns and 193 yards break the Trinity records for a single game.  Urban had previously tied the record of six returns in a game, and his record 153 yards of kick returns last year now stands second in the school record book.  He also broke his own records for single season kickoff returns and kick return yardage.
 
Defensively, Chandler Hicks led the Tigers with 11 tackles (six solo), and Antonio Debouse had eight (four solo). Von 'Darrick Jones accounted for an interception in the game.
 
Huntingdon's Neal Posey completed 13-23 (one interception) for 234 yards and six touchdowns.
 
The Tigers put up 310 yards passing and 86 rushing, for 396 total yards. The Hawks had 234 yards in the air and 219 on the ground, for 453 total yards.  Trinity committed four turnovers in the game (three interceptions, one fumble), and Huntingdon had just one (interception).
 
Trinity resumes its SCAC campaign next Saturday in Danville, Ky., taking on the Centre College Colonels at 1:30 p.m. Eastern (12:30 p.m. Central). The Tigers stand at 1-3 in conference play.