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After graduating three-year starter Connor Smith, Fort Worth Trinity Valley knew it needed a quarterback.
Four tried out. A tall wide receiver named Trey Harrington won. Now, in his first year as a starter, he has delivered a championship for the Trojans. The 6-foot-1 junior threw for 475 yards and three touchdowns last week in a 40-35 victory against Arlington Oakridge.It completed a 10-1 season for Trinity Valley and earned the Trojans the Southwest Preparatory Conference Division II title."It was good for us to finally get one," coach Aaron Mattox said. "We’ve been going to the championship game three years in a row."The 10 victories were the most for the Trojans since Mattox can remember, and he’s in his sixth year at the school (the last four as head coach). Under Mattox, the Trojans have won 24 of 28 SPC games. Their only loss this season was to Fort Worth All Saints. Their victories include one over Dallas Christian, which snapped a 14-game winning streak by the defending TAPPS Division II state champion.Thursday night in the championship game, the Trojans cut it close. Jackson Mellina caught a 38-yard touchdown catch for a 40-35 lead, but Oakridge drove to the 20 with 58 seconds left. That’s where Mellina made another big play — an interception at the 1-yard line, and Trinity Valley ran out the clock.Mellina, a junior who spent the defensive portion of the game covering Oakridge star wideout Ross Apo, finished with 13 catches for 264 yards, three touchdowns and the game-winning interception."The conference game against Cistercian was real tough, as was the loss against All Saints," Mattox said. "The championship game was the most exciting."Bittersweet endFort Worth Trimble Tech finished 8-2, its winningest season since at least 1989. But the Bulldogs couldn’t help but wonder what if they had made one more yard against Fort Worth Western Hills (they were held out of the end zone on the last play of a 19-13 loss) or had scored three more points to emerge from the three-way tie in their District 7-4A zone."It was tough to play those last two games knowing we were not going to be in the playoffs," coach John Naylor said.The Bulldogs deserve credit for closing their season with two victories despite knowing they could not advance."They were feeling pretty depressed these past two weeks," Naylor said. "I talked to them about the goals we had set for the year, and one was having the best record we have had here in 20 years and leaving a foundation for the next team."District defenseFort Worth Arlington Heights enters the playoffs with its defense riding a superior performance in District 7-4A games. The Yellow Jackets gave up only three touchdowns in four zone games and the district championship game (last week’s 21-7 victory against Fort Worth Dunbar). Impressively, Heights held Dunbar wideout Darius White without a catch in the clincher."We played some unbelievable defense in district," coach Steve Hale said. "And we blocked a kick for like the sixth week in a row."
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