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| Trinity (Texas) athletics photos |
Trinity (Texas) was able to withstand a huge second-half rally by St. John's by pounding the rock and running the clock to score with 2:18 left and win, 41-34.
In a game in which future NFL wide receiver Jerheme Urban caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Roy Hampton and returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, and in which future College Football Hall of Famer Blake Elliott caught three touchdown passes, Trinity took a 34-13 lead right before halftime. St. John's rallied, forcing two Trinity fumbles in the third quarter and turning both into touchdowns, then tying it with a 64-yard drive and an Elliott touchdown catch with 9:57 remaining.
Trinity got the ball back on their own 31-yard line with 9:46 still on the clock, and immediately went to work on the ground, hoping to find the end zone for the sixth time that afternoon and eat up as much clock as possible in the process. After 13 consecutive running plays divided among Matt Federle, Jeremy Boyce, and Hampton, Trinity had the ball on the Johnnie 4-yard line in a third-and-goal situation. The Tigers went with a jumbo front, bringing in 6-6, 330-pound backup tackle Derek Farney and lining him up on the right side of the line next to 6-5, 320-pound starter Mike Sorola. Trinity got the push up front and let Hampton walk into the end zone untouched around the right side, regaining a 41-34 lead after the extra point.
"It was easy," Hampton said of his game-winning touchdown. "It was a great call."
"We were in a full blitz, and he just walked into the end zone," Johnnie linebacker Cam McCambridge said of the play. "We had a hard time in the red zone today."
St. John's went four-and-out and the celebration began in San Antonio.
"They say it's a bitter pill," Johnnies head coach John Gagliardi said after the game. "You coach long enough, you swallow a lot of pills."
Gagliardi coached for another decade.