Trinity claims 1st conference title in 39 years with win over Belle Vernon

By: Jeremy Sellew
Friday, October 24, 2025 | 10:53 PM

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For the first time in 17 seasons, the Belle Vernon football team will not be a participant in the WPIAL playoffs.

The Leopards got off to an atrocious start and Trinity quarterback Jonah Williamson and the Hillers were too much for the Leopards’ defense to overcome in the opening half as they put a stamp on their first conference title in 39 years with a 34-21 win at James Weir Stadium.

Williamson finished with 14 carries for 148 yards with two rushing scores and a passing touchdown. One of those was an 88-yard touchdown run in the first half for the Hillers.

“Just a terrible, terrible start,” Belle Vernon coach Scott Bryer said. “We had such a great week of practice, and we just had so many distractions before the game, I think we came out extremely flat and were out of our routine.

It was trick-or-treat night at the Weir, as well as senior night, so the game didn’t kick off until 7:15, which left both teams waiting beyond the end zones to take the field.

But the delay didn’t affect the Hillers (6-4, 5-0).

The Leopards found themselves in an early hole, down 20-0 at the end of the first quarter.

After a Curty Wade interception on the third play of the game, the Hillers went 43 yards on seven running plays with Owen Gardner capping off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

The junior running back went over 1,000 yards on the season, needing only 9 yards coming in. He finished with 113 yards on 17 carries on The Beach.

After the defense forced a Leopards’ three-and-out, Williamson didn’t need much time to find the end zone.

Just two plays into the next drive, Williamson couldn’t find a receiver after rolling out and did it himself, racing 88 yards for a score to make it 13-0.

“I remember watching their first game of the season against Moon and coming in the next Sunday and saying, ‘That kid is going to be a problem,’” Bryer said of the Harvard commit. “He’s so smooth running the football and he can throw it so well, you really have to choose what way you want him to beat you.”

The Hillers (6-4, 5-0) shut down the anemic BVA offense again, forcing another punt. This time, Williamson used his arm to gash the defense, hitting Ayvari Chandler for a 42-yard gain down to the BVA 6. Williamson scored on the next play to make it 20-0.

He ended his night completing only 2 of 6 passes for 120 yards and a score.

The Leopards managed only minus-5 yards of offense in the first quarter and didn’t get a first down until midway through the second quarter.

The Belle Vernon defense did its job in the second 12-minute period, shutting out the Hillers.

With just under 24 seconds remaining in the first half, the Leopards (3-6, 2-3) got on the board with Wade’s 1-yard touchdown run on a quarterback sneak.

“That gave us a little momentum heading into the half,” Bryer said. “We talked about it. We just needed to get our regular team back in the second half. And we did. The second half was more of our type of close hard-fought games.”

Gardner started off the second half with a bang for the Hillers, ripping off a 66-yard return on the opening kickoff. Two plays later, he barreled straight through the heart of the BVA defense for a 15-yard score.

But the Leopards wouldn’t go down without a fight.

On the next Hillers drive, Belle Vernon’s Caleb Horner recovered a Williamson fumble and raced 66 yards deep into Trinity territory. Two plays later, Chace Petrosky scored on a 12-yard run to make it 27-14.

With some momentum on their side, the Leopards’ defense got a stop and forced a Trinity punt.

Wade connected with Luca Ghilani and Nick Mahalko made a great fingertip catch on a 36-yard gain that helped lead to a Petrosky 10-yard run to cut the Hillers’ lead to 27-21.

Williamson and Gardner, though, snatched the momentum back for good. Three plays into their next drive, they connected on a throwback screen with Gardner rumbling 68 yards for the game’s final touchdown.

Wade finished his final game going 10 of 20 for 116 yards and two interceptions. Petrosky carried 14 times for 35 yards with the two scores.

“I thought we showed so much fight. The effort was there in that second half,” Bryer said. “That’s the way we’ve played all year. That was the message after the game. Our motto is to leave the program in a better place then when you started. I think this group of seniors did that. They should all be proud.

“We knew we were going to be in for a battle. (Williamson) is one of, if not the best player, in this conference. You just hate to see him wearing blue and white and not black and green in a game like this. He’s just a fantastic football player.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Trinity