Lamar proves it’s ‘pretty dang good’ as defense slows Trinity in second half for upset

Euless Trinity’s recipe to success over many winning seasons has been its rushing attack.

Arlington Lamar figured out a way Friday night to keep it from breaking loose.

The Vikings held the Trojans to 42 rushing yards in the second half after allowing 274 in the first half to rally for a 37-34 victory in a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff game at Pennington Field.

The Vikings (10-1) advance to play Midland Lee in the area around next week.

“I thought we did a really good job of making adjustments at halftime,” Lamar coach Laban DeLay said.

“Really, you go back to the first half, and we caused a turnover and it popped right back into their lap and they took it to the house. We had them third-and-long and they threw a screen on us. There’s times in the first half when we stopped or halted them. Then, we made those final adjustments in the locker room, and it paid off.”

Lamar’s in-game adjustments started to bear fruit early in the third quarter. Kesswin Kinney recovered a fumble on the fourth play of the first Trojans drive. That takeaway led to a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jack Dawson to Trevon West, an Oklahoma commit, to lock the Vikings into a 27-27 tie after they had trailed 14-0 in the first quarter.

Lamar went ahead for good when Anthony Williams ran a draw play up the middle from the Trinity 3 and went into the end zone untouched for a 34-27 lead with 2:06 left in the third quarter.

Trinity (9-2) used nearly seven minutes to drive to the Lamar 29 a short time later, but it ended in a sack of Trojans quarterback Marcus Ervin, forcing a turnover on downs.

Blake Ford made it a 10-point Lamar lead when he booted a 39-yard field goal to end a drive for the Vikings that consumed 12 plays and nearly five minutes. He was successful on all four extra-point kicks and added field goals of 37, 39 and 30 yards to cap off a perfect night.

Trinity got a late touchdown from Zechariah Moore to cut the deficit to 37-34 with 17 seconds left, but Lamar recovered the onside kick and proceeded to run out the final seconds.

Trinity showed how potent its running attack can be as the Trojans raced out to a 14-0 lead six minutes into the opening quarter thanks to touchdown runs from Moore and Ollie Gordon.

Moore rushed for 146 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns. Gordon tallied 127 rushing yards on 16 carries with three TDs.

Lamar countered with a potent passing attack to keep the Vikings within striking distance.

Dawson and West combined for three touchdowns as Dawson completed 28 of 37 passes for 335 yards. West accounted for 271 of those yards.

“They’ve been playing together since their freshman year,” DeLay said. “In freshman football, they connected. Then, they were both moved up to varsity as sophomores. It will be sad when they both leave, but we’re going to run this as long as we can.”

The first half was a shootout to say the least as both teams combined for 610 yards of total offense.

Trinity led 20-7 after a 3-yard run from Gordon in the opening minute of the second quarter, but Lamar outscored the Trojans 13-7 over the remainder of the first half, which included field goals of 37 and 39 yards from Ford, and a 10-yard pass from Dawson to West.

Trinity led 27-20 at halftime.

But Lamar’s defense proved to be the difference in the second half.

“For starters, we talked about unwavering belief,” DeLay said. “It didn’t matter if it was news reporters, social media. Everybody was picking Trinity to win. The Lamar Vikings are pretty dang good, too.

“Historically, I would match us up against anybody. We just believed in each other. We fought all the way to the end.”