Trinity Catholic drops season opener to Tampa Catholic
Youthful Celtics learn valuable lessons in loss to Crusaders
Tampa Catholic sophomore quarterback Lucas Ruan tossed three touchdown passes and running back Josh Balloon Jr. ran for a pair of scores to lead the Crusaders to a 40-14 win over Trinity Catholic in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
Tampa Catholic’s defense forced three turnovers and scored twice against a young and inexperienced Trinity Catholic squad that struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm.
Trinity Catholic, which lost in the Class 1A state championship game last year, lost a number of key players to graduation off last year’s talented squad.
“It’s a rebuild,” said Celtics coach John Brantley. “We’ve lost 19 seniors over the last two seasons and you’re going to go through periods like this. We’re a very young team. We had two freshmen returning kicks and I’ve never had that in my 16 years of coaching here. These kids have worked hard all summer and we’re going to watch the film, learn from our mistakes and get better because there’s a lot of football left to be played this season.”
Tampa Catholic scored on its opening possession as Ruan guided the Crusaders 55 yards in nine plays with Balloon scoring on a 2-yard run. The extra point was missed to make it 6-0.
The lead didn’t last long as Trinity Catholic senior Sean Thornton took the ensuing kickoff back 95 yards for a touchdown. The point after by Andrew Leonard gave the Celtics a 7-6 lead midway through the opening quarter.
Tampa Catholic fumbled on its next possession with Trinity Catholic senior defensive back Ace Means falling on the ball at the Crusaders’ 47. The Celtics couldn’t capitalize on the excellent field position and were forced to punt.
Tampa Catholic marched down the field in five plays as Ruan tossed a 23-yard touchdown pass. The extra point put the Crusaders up by a score of 13-7.
Trinity Catholic couldn’t pick up a first down and had to punt, but the punt was blocked, and Jonah Gonzalez picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown to make it 19-7 at the half.
“It was a typical first game and we made a lot of mistakes and had a bunch of penalties,” Brantley said. “We had a lot of young players gain a lot of experience tonight and that is going to help with our depth.”
Tampa Catholic extended its lead in the third quarter as Ruan showed excellent touch on a 27-yard scoring strike to Kyreek Monette in the back of the end zone. The extra point made it 26-7.
Trinity Catholic managed to pick up a couple of first downs before having to punt the ball.
Tampa Catholic struck quickly as Balloon broke several tackles on his way to a 66-yard scoring scamper. The hard-running Balloon finished with 157 rushing yards on just 14 carries.
Trinity Catholic’s next possession ended with an interception of a tipped pass by quarterback Carter Schofield.
Tampa Catholic capitalized and increased its lead to 40-7 as Ruan connected with David Theado on a 24-yard touchdown pass. Ruan completed 15 of 18 passes for 162 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Trinity Catholic refused to quit and drove down the field late in the game as Schofield completed several passes. Junior running back Wyatt Lucas powered his way into the end zone from 3 yards out for the final points of the game.
Lucas gained 53 yards on 10 carries, while Schofield was 13 of 26 for 109 yards.
Trinity Catholic will look to get into the win column on Aug. 30 with a home game against Melbourne Central Catholic.
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