Koroly does little of everything as Trinity makes playoffs
Trinity’s Tanner Hudak breaks the tackle of Ringgold’s Max Maciejewski Friday night to score a touchdown.
Ringgold’s Darius Tyree gets tackled by Trinity’s Dalton Bedillion during a game at Hiller Field on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Trinity’s Dylan Kern gets tackle by Ringgold’s Cameron Wise during a game at Hiller Field on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Trinity’s Joey Koroly gets by Ringgold’s defender during a game at Hiller Field on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Ringgold’s Max Maciejewski looks back at Trinity’s Cole Bair as he run in for a touchdown in during a game at Hiller Field on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Ringgold’s Darius Tyree makes the catch as Trinity’s Joey Koroly closes in during a game at Hiller Field on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.
Ringgold’s Darius Tyree leaps over Trinity’s Joey Koroly to make a catch Friday night.
Every season, the Trinity and Ringgold matchup to close the regular season seems to have playoff implications tied to it.
This year was no different when the Rams paid a visit to Hiller Field Friday night.
Both teams came to play like their playoff lives were on the line. However, Trinity senior Joey Koroly refused to let the Hillers lose.
Koroly did it all for Trinity, rushing for 275 yards, scoring four touchdowns on the ground, returning an interception for a score and even throwing a touchdown pass as the Hillers cemented a spot in the WPIAL playoffs with a 55-34 Big Nine Conference victory.
“I just focused on playing as hard as I could,” said Koroly. “My teammates stepped up tonight. We had a lot of injuries and everyone stepped up big tonight. I’m so proud of everyone.”
Unlike years past, when the Hillers came away disappointed, this time coach Jon Miller’s team rose to the occasion.
The win, along with West Mifflin’s 37-7 loss to Thomas Jefferson, means the Hillers finish in third place in the conference behind Belle Vernon and Thomas Jefferson.
It also marks quite the turnaround as Trinity (5-3, 6-3) hasn’t qualified for the WPIAL playoffs since 2012 and went a combined 12-24 since then, prior to this season.
“it’s a tribute to these seniors,” said Trinity head coach Jon Miller. “When I came in I talked to these guys as sophomores and said you’re going to make the playoffs, and you’re going to turn this thing around and they have.”
Down 24-20 at the half, Koroly gave the Hillers the lead when he picked off Ringgold quarterback Caleb Eisel and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.
After Trinity quarterback Dylan Kern was hurt for the second time in the contest on a late hit, the Hillers had to resort to the Wildcat formation, lining Koroly up to take the direct snap. Koroly made the Rams pay snap after snap.
Fighting off cramps, Koroly scored on a 50-yard run to make it 34-27 and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Cole Bair to up the Trinity lead to 41-27.
“This is incredible,” Koroly said. “I can’t even put into words what this means to me. We have a great student section, a great community and great teammates. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Ringgold answered when Brenden Small scampered 68-yards for a score to cut the Trinity lead to 41-34, but Koroly scored again, this time from 15 yards in the fourth quarter to make it 48-34.
Small rushed for 108 yards.
Koroly also added a seven-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter.
“When your quarterback goes down, you kind of just throw some things together on the sidelines and let Joey do his thing,” Miller said. “It’s incredible. He’s a tremendous athlete and we are lucky to have him.”
After a Trinity three-and out to start the game, Ringgold got on the scoreboard first when Eisel threw a jump ball into the end zone that Nathan Leaver came down with for a 25-yard touchdown.
Eisel had a big night as the Rams torched the Hillers’ secondary early. The senior completed 16 of 22 attempts for 226 yards and three touchdowns. That included an impressive 13 for 15 for 212 yards in the first half.
The Hillers responded by scoring the next 21 points.
Koroly, who came into the night third in the WPIAL in rushing with 1,517 yards, broke loose for a 63-yard touchdown to tie the score.
Trinity made it 14-7 in the second quarter when Tanner Hudak scored from 12 yards on a pretty trap play. The Hillers got the ball back on a Bair interception and Trinity scored three plays later.
Trinity upped the lead to 20-7 when Kern scored with a 31-yard touchdown run. Kern escaped a sack and saw no one on the left side of the field and cruised to a score.
Ringgold (3-5 ,3-6) fought right back when Eisel hit Maxon Maciejewski with touchdown passes of 51 and 34 yards on back-to-back drives to take a 21-20 lead.
Maciejewski caught seven passes for 136 yards.
“We made some mistakes,” said Ringgold head coach Nick Milchovich, who announced after the game that he is resigning.
“We had a couple of turnovers and had a couple of crucial penalties on fourth downs that killed us. But I couldn’t be prouder of our effort. We could have packed it in after the West Mifflin game, but we never quit.”