Aug 30, 2013 4 min read

46-0

Matt Shetler

For the Observer-Reporter

ELIZABETH – Coming into the season, Trinity head coach Ryan Coyle was faced with the difficult task of having to replace almost all of his experience at the skill positions from a season ago.

That lack of experience showed up early and often as the Hillers dropped their season opener Friday night, 46-0, to Elizabeth Forward in Big Nine Conference play.

Whether it was first-game jitters or just a lack of experience, Trinity hurt iteself with six first-quarter penalties, couldn’t get anything going offensively and the Hillers’ defense didn’t do much to stop the powerful EF rushing attack.

“We are a very young team,” said Coyle. “We are young not so much in age, but in terms of playing experience. The speed of varsity football is a lot different than anything than a lot of our guys have seen. That’s not an acceptable excuse thought. I wasn’t happy with a lot that I saw tonight.”

Trinity was outgained 346-22 in the first half, and to make matters worse for the Hillers only four of their 25 first-half plays netted positive yards. Trinity managed just one first down that didn’t come via penalty.

“We knew coming in that it would be very tough to run the football,” added Coyle. “We have a very young offensive line, and some guys that aren’t used to being in the fire. I figured we would do a better job than that, though. Give Elizabeth Forward credit. They are a good team with a ton of talent and are very well coached. But I’m disappointed with what I saw on both sides of the ball”

Elizabeth Forward scored on its first drive, when Matt Bernadowski took an end-around play for a six-yard touchdown. The drive was helped by three penalties on the Hillers, including a personal foul call that gave the Warriros a first-and-goal situation.

Bernadowski found the end zone for the second time on the Warriors second drive when he hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback JaQuaun Davidson. The Hillers had several chances to sack Davidson, but he showed off his athleticism and arm strength, turning a broken play into a touchdown.

Davidson also made it happen with his legs when he put EF up 21-0 in the first quarter with an 18-yard scoring run, capping a four-play 86-yard drive.

Elizabeth Forward scored again on its first drive of the second quarter when the Warriors went 98 yards on five plays. Bernadowski found the end zone for the third time in the half with an 11-yard run on the same jet sweep that worked for his first touchdown.

The Warriors then made it five touchdowns on their first five drives of the season when running back Ryan Wardropper scampered 33 yards to give EF a 33-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Elizabeth Forward picked right up where it left off in the first as Davidson made it 40-0 with a 12-yard touchdown run on the Warriors’ first drive of the half.

On the drive, three different Warriors went over the 100-yard mark for the game, as Davidson, Wardropper and Jalen French all eclipsed the plateau.

“We have a lot of weapons to play with,” said Elizabeth Forward head coach Mike LeDonne. “Offensively, we tried to keep everyone involved and it’s nice that we have so many guys that can make things happen. Defensively, though, we wanted the goose egg. It’s nice to allow only 60 total yards in the game, but our job is to not allow the other team to score and we did a great job of that tonight.”

Bernadowski capped the scoring with a 96-yard punt return that featured several missed tackles.

“I like having a tough opener like we did,” said Coyle. “It gives us a litmus test to see where we are. It’s like anything else, you can’t dwell on it. If you dwell on things, then bad things happen. We have to forget it and move on. Hopefully, we get those growing pains out of us and move forward. We have to get better.”