Eagles capture first victory

After falling in their first three contests of the 2024 season, the Trinity Christian Academy Eagles football team made a stand at home and secured their first win of the season. Behind a productive offensive attack and an opportunistic defense, the Eagles soared past the Tyler Bishop Gorman Crusaders for a 42-27 homecoming victory Friday night at Eagle Stadium.

“We had a tough game last week where we really got smacked in the mouth – we came out of that game having to figure out who we were,” Eagles head coach Cody McKenzie said. “We took the good from the bad, realized how physical we could be and I think we realized we can step on the field and play with any level of physicality. We moved some players around, they made some great plays, they’re starting to tackle and we’re starting to figure out who we are as a football team.”

The Eagles responded mightily to its 56-18 road loss to Era by flying fast out of the opening gates. Trinity scored on its first possession of the game and followed that touchdown with two pick-six interceptions on consecutive defensive possessions by Pearson Kuykendall and Owen Coates. With 25 ticks remaining in the first quarter, the Eagles were up by three scores at 21-0.

Then, the Bishop Gorman Crusaders got on the board.

The visitors got three touchdowns on screen passes to senior wideout Manuel Lozano to cut the deficit to 21-20 at halftime due to Gorman missing the extra point on its final second-quarter touchdown. Gorman took a 27-21 lead in the third quarter, but TCA did not run out of steam. Instead, the Eagles took things in stride and held true to their halftime adjustments.

“We’ve kind of been a two-quarter team for a while here, but we went into the half, made some adjustments and they came out finding a way to win,” McKenzie said. “We are inexperienced out there with some young guys, but we got some older guys out there to help contain those screen plays. They were running in a box style where they send a guy vertical to take our safety out of the play, so we just got a bigger boy out there to take care of that play.”

On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Eagles found paydirt on a short rushing touchdown to reclaim the lead for good at 28-27. The Eagles padded the lead with a late 6-yard fumble return for a touchdown, then another interception set up Canaan Kaznowski’s 1-yard run to put the game out of reach.

“When we needed to finish off that game by running the ball down their throats,” McKenzie said. “Our two backs got behind our offensive line and they were able to get through those arm tackles, which opened up our passing game. They played well tonight.”

Oates led all runners with 87 yards and a TD on eight carries, while Kuykendall picked up 54 yards on 13 carries with a score. Kaznowski rushed 10 times for 63 yards and a TD and complete three passes – all to Braxton Lewis – for 70 yards.

Defensively, Maxwell Johnson led TCA with 15 tackles, while Kuykendall had, Coates six (two for a loss) and Micah Harless registered five tackles with a sack and a fumble recovery for a TD. Lewis and Dane Southworth also had interceptions.

Trinity (1-3) will take the field once more at 7 p.m. Friday at All Saints Episcopal.