Ground game helps Trinity rout Chartiers Valley

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, October 10, 2025 | 11:55 PM

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The Trinity Hillers are no longer just looking over the city of Washington. They are also looking over the Big Six conference after beating Chartiers Valley, 42-18, on Friday night.

The Hillers ran all over the Colts, tallying 376 rushing yards.

“We pride ourselves on being able to run on everybody,” coach Dan Knause said. “We try to take over games with our run game. Obviously, we have a special kid at QB. They can do some things in the pass game, but there’s nights where we just want to take people’s will with our run game.”

Trinity quarterback Jonah Williamson, a Harvard commit, punched in four touchdowns as part of his 152 yards.

Williamson had the game’s opening touchdown for 5 yards and also tallied a 75-yard touchdown.

Running back Owen Gardner, whose birthday was Friday, tallied 218 yards on the ground with one touchdown.

Gardner had a 48-yard touchdown run and a 72-yard carry that set up a Cooper Cincinnati field goal in the first.

“If he has a good day, if I have a good day or we both have a good day, it doesn’t matter. Someone’s always bound to have a have a day,” Williamson said.

Gardner and Williamson are major factors in a three-game winning streak.

“It’s all about supporting each other and relying on each other,” Gardner said. “We support each other when one’s not having a good day or one’s messing up on a couple plays.”

Nonetheless, Trinity won the game up front and created holes for the tandem.

“They’re two special kids, and a lot of people were talking about us not having a good line coming into the season, and that’s just not going to happen here,” Knause said. “Our young guys are stepping up, and they get a ton of the credit too. We got two special guys running the rock, but we have a young line that’s getting better every week.”

Williamson added: “They did a great job today. I’m so proud of them. Without them, we’re not the team we are today.”

The defense held the Colts to six points in the second half and tallied four turnovers, including key interceptions from Ben Priest and Tyler Welsh and a 48-yard pick-6 from Daniel Glass.

The CV offense scored on its first two possessions, and Luke Miranda completed 24 of 40 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns.

Damien Holloway caught eight passes for 120 yards.

Nonetheless, the Hillers shut the door in the second half.

“We have a great coaching staff,” Knause said. “Coach Alex Smith, Coach Mark Giorgi, Coach Phil Donofrio, Coach Josh O’Brien. We have so many great coaches. I want to name them all, but our defensive staff really makes great adjustments.”

Williamson said the turnovers helped them get back into the game.

“They did a great job,” Williamson said. “They created turnovers, created big and put us in good field position and set us up to score touchdowns.”

Gardner said the coaches gave them a goal of three interceptions per game to raise the stakes.

The Hillers struck first Friday after they were forced to punt. Chartiers Valley muffed a punt, and Trinity’s Mekhi Bouman fell on it at the Colts’ 7.

Williamson ran one in for a 5-yard touchdown run to go up 6-0.

The Colts responded with a drive that was capped off with a Miranda 2-yard touchdown run to knot it up.

A Gardner 72-yard run set the Trinity offense up inside the 10.

Nevertheless, the CV defense forced a stop and held Trinity to a Cincinnati 24-yard field goal as the Hillers took a 9-6 lead.

The Colts took the lead after some big plays from Miranda, including a 16-yard pass to Julius Best and a 23-yard pass to Braden Berdar that got them into Hillers territory.

Miranda found Best for six on a fade route for 26 yards as he jumped up and caught a contested pass. CV kicker Luke Waldron was out because of injury heading into the game, leading the Colts to go for 2. They missed it, keeping it 12-9 Colts.

Best caught the next pass as well, this time intercepting one from Williamson.

Miranda found Best for 39 yards to the Trinity 25. Nonetheless, the Hillers forced a turnover on downs after fourth-and-10.

Williamson capitalized on the next play with an electric 75-yard touchdown run down the sideline to go up 15-12.

A Gardner 52-yard run set up a Williams 2-yard touchdown to go up 21-12 at half.

Priest picked off a Miranda pass to begin the second half.

Williamson took a 40-yard run down to the CV 24.

The Hillers capped off the drive when a bad snap was picked up well behind the line, and Williamson picked it up and scrambled. He the evaded multiple Colts and took home an 11-yard score to go up 28-12.

Trinity’s Tyler Welsh picked off a pass, but the Hillers couldn’t capitalize.

Miranda found Holloway for a 29-yard touchdown when Holloway went up and showed shades of former NFL star Randy Moss, “Mossing” a defender for the score. The 2-point conversion failed, however, keeping it a two-possession game at 28-18.

Gardner put the game away, blowing past all CV defenders on a 48-yard score.

Daniel Glass then had a 48-yard pick-6 for the final score.

“This is the one thing I wanted for my birthday,” Gardner said. “I want to have a home playoff game. I want to win our conference, so this win is one more step closer to our goal.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley, Trinity