Trinity stuns Belle Vernon to clinch playoff spot; Leopards now at mercy of selection committee

By: Liam Belan
Friday, October 25, 2024 | 11:52 PM

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With a playoff spot up for grabs between two highly competitive teams, it was Trinity that pulled away from Belle Vernon with a 31-21 victory Friday night to clinch the second postseason spot out of the Big 6 Conference in Class 4A.

The Hillers (5-5, 4-1) and the Leopards (4-4, 3-2) entered the week treating the game as a must-win, and while it seemed that Belle Vernon had taken the momentum at the beginning of the second half, Trinity coach Dan Knause had a trick up his sleeve.

After Belle Vernon forced a Trinity three-and-out on the opening possession of the third quarter and then scored on a 1-yard run from Kole Doppelheuer, the Leopards gained their first lead of the night at 21-14. The Hillers needed a splash play to flip the game on its head, and it came just at the right time.

Everyone in the stadium thought Trinity quarterback Jonah Williamson was looking for a quick-hitter to the flat with the Hillers in their own territory, but Owen Gardner was running up the seam alone. Gardner entered the contest with two receptions for 24 yards on the season, but Williamson found him for a 62-yard touchdown that tied the score and turned it around in Trinity’s favor.

Counting the touchdown, the host Hillers scored the last 17 points of the game.

“It’s a play we’ve been working on for a few weeks,” Knause said. “It was designed to do what it did, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. But then we kind of physically controlled the rest of the game, which is the part I’m most proud of because that’s a physical football team that we just beat.”

The win was a culmination of hard work and dedication from the Hillers since Knause took over. Trinity hadn’t beaten Belle Vernon in 19 seasons, and Knause said that was proud of his team and its growth, win or lose.

“That’s a program with championship pedigree, so I told the guys that we have to be ready to scratch and claw and fight every second,” Knause added. “We love the kids, and we’re proud of them. We knew they were winners (earlier in the season) when we were 2-5. It’s easy to turn on each other and make excuses when things are going tough, but these kids never made excuses and they stayed together.”

For Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert, the tough loss also signifies a first as the Leopards will be at the mercy of the WPIAL committee when it releases the Class 4A playoff bracket today. With only the top two teams in each conference promised a spot, Belle Vernon will hope for one of the two wild-card slots, but a 13-7 win for West Allegheny over Montour in the Parkway Conference Friday night won’t do the Leopards any favors.

“We just hope that we have more football this season,” Humbert said. “It’s kind of uncharted territory for us, so we just hope that we can play another day.

“The kids battled hard tonight and I’m proud of that. (Trinity is) a really good ball club, and we have a lot of respect for them. It feels like this is the year that they’re putting it together.”

It was Trinity that opened the matchup with all the momentum as Belle Vernon fumbled possession away less than a minute into play facing third-and-13. A recovery from Caden Vogel set the Hillers up on Belle Vernon’s 44, and they marched into the end zone with ease apart from the scoring play.

Nico Mauro and Williamson carried the brunt of the load on the ground, and it was Williamson who had appeared to reach the end zone on a QB sneak when the ball came out late, but it was ruled by the referees as a fumble via the blue bean bag. Only one player seemed to see the ball as it was resting in the end zone, with the majority of the 22 players engaged in a scrum, and it was Trinity’s Chase Kostelnik who spotted the ball and fell on it to confirm the touchdown on a 1-yard rush. Andy Palm split the uprights to make it 7-0 with 7:24 left to play in the first quarter.

That capped the scoring in the first quarter, but the Leopards managed to tie things up in the second.

Curty Wade and Doppelheuer made things happen on the ground all night, racking up 112 yards and 46 yards with two rushing touchdowns, respectively. The duo did most of the work on a 67-yard scoring drive that ended with 6:59 left in the first half as Doppelheuer was stuffed at the 1 but shoved into the end zone by lineman Jude Minniti.

Trinity responded with a long scoring drive that ran most of the second quarter clock. Williamson, who finished with 139 passing yards and two scores as well as 74 rushing yards and a score, got into the end zone this time from a yard away to make it 14-7 with 1:12 left.

From there, the Leopards came up with a huge score at the end of the half to even things up going into the break as Wade marched his guys down the field.

Belle Vernon faced fourth-and-1 at its own 46 with under 30 seconds left trailing 14-7 when they decided to try and get the yard to gain. Out of the huddle, Wade forced an encroachment call to move the sticks and move the Leopards to the Trinity 49 before he connected with Doppelheuer for a 33-yard gain.

With 10 seconds left in the half, Belle Vernon was suddenly at the Trinity 16 calling a timeout. Out of the break, Wade threw into a tight window over the middle of the field, and Dom Ghilani was able to reel in a massive 16-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left to square things at 14-14 going into the halftime break.

With Trinity receiving the second-half kick, the score was key for the Leopards, but they faced an unfortunate setback as leading receiver Anthony Crews suffered an allergic reaction during halftime. To ensure his safety after he “kind of ballooned up,” Humbert and the Leopards sent him to the hospital, and he missed the second half.

Trinity lost 3 yards on its first drive of the half and, eventually, gave up the touchdown to Doppelheuer before taking the game over with the long connection between Williamson and Gardner. After that, Williamson hit Vogel for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:58 left in the third quarter to make it 28-21 in favor of the Hillers.

While the Leopards were stifled on offense, their defense battled and almost forced a much-needed stop late in the game.

With 8:03 left to play, the score was still 28-21 when Williamson got a 2-yard gain on third-and-12 to move to the Belle Vernon 25-yard line. That would have forced the Hillers to go for it or trot Palm out for a 42-yard field goal, but a flag was thrown on the tackle for a facemask.

Not only did Trinity get a first down, but it milked the clock to 6:18 and gave Palm a 26-yard field goal that he drilled to make it a two-score game and cap the scoring.

Today, the Hillers will learn their postseason fate while the Leopards will discover if their season will continue.

“I thanked everyone (Thursday) and got a little emotional about how proud I was for where we’ve gotten Trinity football,” Knause said. “We’re playing huge games against defending state champions at the end of the season, and then to go and win it, it was great. Now, we don’t have to worry about the committee or anything. … We feel like we can beat anybody on any given night, and that’s how we’ll look at the postseason.”

Said Humbert: “I think we’re peaking when we need to peak. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to get it done tonight. The kids battled hard, though, and we’re proud of that.”

Tags: Belle Vernon, Trinity