Trinity 28, Ryle 9
The dragon that is Louisville football – notably Louisville Trinity – continued its annual march torching the Kentucky big school countryside on Friday night, but not before it took a few good blows from Ryle.
Thanks to a stellar defensive performance the Raiders trailed just 7-3 midway through the third quarter before Trinity took charge and eventually rolled to a 28-9 victory in a Class 6A state semifinal game at Clifford R. Borland Stadium in Union.
Trinity (13-1), which went a span of over 17 minutes without a first down from the second quarter to midway through the third quarter, advances to the state championship game next Saturday night at Western Kentucky University where it will face Louisville Male, a 28-12 winner over Scott County in Friday’s other semifinal.
It will be the 14th straight season a school from Louisville will win the big-school state championship (the last four in Class 6A after the state expanded four classes to six in 2007) with Trinity seeking its eighth state title in that span and 20th overall.
“Our defense did a great job of holding them, but our offense kind of struggled tonight,” said Ryle senior quarterback/cornerback Conner Hempel. “Every time our defense would stop them we would think this would be the drive where we got things going, but couldn’t. We had a couple of good drives and we hurt ourselves on a couple of them and that hurt us in the end.”
Ryle (12-2), which was held to its lowest point total of the season, entered the game averaging 39.1 points and 389 yards per game, 298 rushing, and was held to just 79 total yards through the first three quarters, a scant 37 on the ground on 27 carries.
Both Hempel and Ryle head coach Bryson Warner said Trinity changed its defensive scheme to shut down the Raiders’ running game.
“We watched a lot of film on them and they were tighter in the box and doing some things they hadn’t shown,” said Warner. “They’d showed a solid 4-3 all season and I think they gave us a lot of credit in the running game and were committed to stopping the run. They were going to make us throw the football and they did a great job of that.”
Ryle finished with 212 yards total offense, just 83 on the ground, including 75 on 14 carries by junior Travis Elliott, who entered the game having rushed 2,129 yards on the season. Elliott picked up 41 of those yards on one fourth-quarter carry, but tallied just 34 on his other 13 attempts. Hempel, who had rushed for 972 yards and averaged almost seven yards per carry, finished with 0 yards on 12 carries.
“Normally their line slanted either which way and they kind of came up the middle and we hadn’t really prepared for that,” said Hempel.
The Shamrocks appeared as if they were going to make quick work of the Raiders when on the first play of the game speedy sophomore wide receiver James Quick turned a 15-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Travis Wright into a 65-yard touchdown reception.
The Raiders then made a huge defensive stand after Shamrocks sophomore cornerback Ryan White Hempel on Ryle’s third offensive play of the game, returned it to the Raiders 29.
Warner said it didn’t surprise him his team didn’t get rattled by the bad start.
“It’s just about competing and just focus on your assignments every given play,” said Warner. “You’re going to get knocked down in life and you’re going to get back up and plug away and that’s what we try to teach at Ryle and our guy have bought into what we’re doing. It’s what our program is built on.”
The Raiders cut it to 7-3 with just 1:03 left in the first half when sophomore Garrett Mead connected on a 31-yard field goal that was setup by a 19-yard punt return by senior Deion Mullens that gave Ryle the ball at the Trinity 29.
Ryle had a couple of drives early in the third quarter to take the lead, but was forced into a three-and-out each time and finished the quarter with 0 yards and without a first down.
Trinity then drove 73 yards in nine plays to up its lead to 14-3 with 3:37 left in the third quarter after sophomore running back Derek Bishop raced into the end zone from 13 yards one play after his 8-yard scoring run had been wiped out by an illegal formation penalty.
Bishop and the Trinity offensive line took charge in the fourth quarter as he racked up 104 of his 170 yards rushing on 12 of his 25 carries, including scoring runs of 41 and 2 yards. Wright finished 8 of 14 for 136 yards with Quick catching six passes for 111 yards. The Shamrocks finished with 343 yards, 252 coming in the first and fourth quarters.
Hempel was 14 of 28 passing for 129 yards and also scored on a fourth-quarter touchdown run.
“I know we’re closer, we’re definitely closer,” said Warner. “We need to get this kind of senior leadership every year. We’re looking forward to the future here at Ryle.”
Louisville Trinity 7 0 7 14 – 28
Ryle 0 3 0 6 – 9
T-Quick 65 pass from Wright (Crenshaw kick)
R-FG Mead 31
T-Bishop 13 run (Crenshaw kick)
T-Bishop 41 run (Crenshaw kick)
R-Hempel 6 run (pass failed)
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