The word "pounce" is usually associated with some type of cat. Which is why you might find the Title up above a bit ironic. Titans usually don't "pounce" on anything, they battle, or fight for it. But I think it is an appropriate verb for what the Trinity Titans Varsity Basketball team did Thursday Night against The Collegiate Cougars, a mascot which by many means is much more appropriate for the verb usage of "pounce". But as they listened as Coach Hamlin explained his Keys on the whiteboard, they came out focused, and confident, even on the road and shooting warmups right in front of the Collegiate cheering section. A Cougar pounces on its vulnerable prey, and swallows, and goes on with the rest of the day, as if nothing had ever happened. That is exactly what Trinity did to Collegiate to start out the game Thursday night. Trinity opened up the game on a 24-0 run stretching into the second quarter, until 7:20 left in the second quarter (8:40 of game play) when Collegiate scored their first bucket while getting fouled. It showed that the team listened to Coach in the locker room, as their mixture of tenacious defensive play, uptempo offense, and dominant performances from both big men down low, Seniors Nathan Swift, who led the team with 18 points, and Senior Austin Williams, who was all around in the paint, scoring sixteen points and snatching 14 rebounds. The Cougars forwards down low scratched and tried to claw their way for rebounds throughout, but Swift and Williams kept them at a arm's length all night, never letting them see any light at the end of the tunnel. Great ball reversals and ball movement on the offensive end from Guards Abe Ferrell-Logan, Josh Brown, Zane Lewis, and Aaron Duhart kept Collegiate vulnerable all night on the perimeter and on the inside. Abe had 7 of the team's 16 assists on the night, 3 of them coming in the first two minutes of gameplay, all to Swift. Everything seemed to go right for Trinity on Thursday night, as it also seemed to do Saturday night in a 92-56 drubbing of Fork Union. They hope to keep riding their momentum into a fast turnaround on Friday night, when they will face a very talented 14-1 Norfolk Collegiate team at home, who will be one of the hardest opponents for Trinity on the schedule.
Check the Twitter account for live updates during that contest, which starts Friday 1/17 at 5:45 PM in Estes gym.
GO TITANS!
The odds were stacked against them. The Trinity Titans went into the Benedictine Capitol City Classic as a underdog, facing in the first round a favored Mount Saint Joseph's team, who was the number 1 ranked team in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, number 3 ranked in the state of Marylannd, and had a #178 ranking in the entire country. They knew that they weren't the favorite, and they liked that. When Coach Hamlin and the rest of the team found out that they would be without their leading scorer, Josh Brown, that just made them all the more determined to go out and prove that they deserved the respect of the Benedictine crowd and that they were meant to be in this highly competitive tournament. From the opening tip, Trinity almost controlled every facet of the game, continuing to knock down their open three point opportunities, sparked by the hot shooting of senior Abe Ferrell-Logan, who at one point in the contest just channeled his inner Steph Curry and hit 3 consecutive threes. They locked down the Gaels versatile attack of senior guards Phil Booth and Jaylen Adams in the half court, strictly limiting most of their points to when they ran in transition. The Titans were dominating through the first three quarters so much, that their lead got as big as 19 points at one point, stretched out finally by a wild circus and-1 shot that Zane Lewis threw up as he was falling down to the floor. The Gaels did expose the Titans in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 28-14 while getting many quick buckets from their full court press that they put on for most of the fourth quarter. The lead for the Titans in the fourth got as small as 2 with just under two minutes left to play, but then Trinity started to beat the press of the Gaels, forced them to foul, and knocked down their free throw shots, and walked away back to their locker room victorious, screaming and dancing happily as they burst through the doors of the visiting locker room.
Though early in the season, Trinity had a crucial game Friday Night against hated rival Christchurch. The last time Trinity and Christchurch met was in the Prep League Championship, which I think we all know what happened there. After that game's utter excitement and astonishing ending, one could only hope that this game was just as good. The student section was just about sold out as everyone piled in their all-white shirts for the White-Out and started screaming. The stage was set. From the opening tip of the game, you could tell that it was going to be physical. Both teams were fouling early and often, but then shots started to fall for both. Christchurch rode a early wave of momentum and pushed their lead out to 26-15 over Trinity about mid-way through the second quarter, before Coach Hamlin rallied his guys and they responded by going on a 11-2 run in a span of 2 minutes and 56 seconds, which only put them behind 28-26 with two minutes left before half. Christchurch managed to stop the bleeding on their side and responded with two quick threes off turnovers from Trinity and went into the locker room up 34-30. The Titans came out of the half a new team that was energizing and ravenous to defend their home court. They jumped out on a 15-2 run before Christchurch could catch their breath, and was suddenly up 45-36. Runs were sparked by a dominant down-low presence in the second half by the name of Austin Williams, who time after time in the second half managed to follow missed Titan shots with put backs right under the basket. Late in the fourth quarter, as it seemed that the Seahorses were trying to stage a major comeback, sparked by Florida-bound Devin Robinson off of a four-point play from the top of the key, Trinity answered with their sixth man, Senior Camm Johnson, hitting two huge three pointers to put the Titans up by 16 again, 71-55. Both teams played out until the bitter end, the last two minutes basically becoming a free throw shooting contest between the teams, and Trinity hung on as the final buzzer rang, victorious 75-61.
Josh Brown led the scoring for the Titans, as he's done in 3 of the 4 games this year, with 22 points, followed by Austin Williams, who had a great stat line of 16 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks. Abe Ferrell-Logan followed behind with 13, while the other senior, Nathan Swift, had a quiet seven points.
NEXT GAME: Trinity takes on Armstrong High School in the first round of the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament (TDIT), at home in Estes on Friday, December 20th at 7:30 PM.
Last year, Trinity Varsity Basketball had a season to remember. Led by star point guard Jaylen Hinton at the helm of the offense last year, we went to the Prep League Title Game for the second year in a row, once again playing the Christchurch Seahorses. For all of you that don't remember what happened on that historic day, here is a reminder. That shot reminded us why we all support, love, and cheer our hearts out for Trinity basketball. This year, though not with Jaylen on the team, expectations are still high for this group of guys. 4 out of the starting five from last year, Junior Josh Brown, Senior Abraham Ferrell-Logan, and Senior Nathan Swift and Senior Austin Williams. Titans will look for more production from their bench players this year, especially new coming transfer Guard Eli Reece. They will also look to Sophomore Anthony Roberson to step up and provide a more pivotal role in the offense, with him likely starting at Small Forward throughout the season. The Titans will get a test early in their season and Prep League opener on Tuesday, December 3rd when they play a revamped Woodberry Forrest team. Trinity swept the the season series with Woodberry last year. Trinity will also see what Josh Brown can do handling the point guard position about half of the time that he's on the court, as he will try to adjust from being the 2 guard to the three and facilitating the ball. Josh was the teams third highest scorer last year, only behind Abe-Ferrell Logan and Jaylen. Titans will also look for revenge against Prep League foes FUMA and Christchurch, both teams that they struggle against last year, but beat them when it mattered in the postsason. If things work out, Trinity could face cross-town foe Benedictine 4 times during the course of the season if they get far enough in the TDIT, BCCC, and in the State Tournament. This could realistically happen and would be a great test for Trinity and a chance to get revenge, as they lost to Benedictine by 1 last year.
Update: In the first poll of the year, Trinity was ranked 8th in the Times-Dispatch Top Ten state rankings.
Projected starters for Trinity: G Josh Brown, G Abe Ferrell-Logan F Anthony Roberson F Nathan Swift and F Austin Williams.
Key producers off of the bench: G Zane Lewis G Eli Reece G Camm Johnson G Aaron Duhart F Jake Brown, F Weston Hannon-Bogosh.
The guys will look for a leader on the floor this year, hoping to rally around the 5 seniors on the team in Camm, Thomas Graziano, Abe, Austin, and Nathan. They will look to sprinting out of the gate in hopes of another Prep League Championship and to go to the State finals and will be in the talk all season for the State ring.
Key Games: December 3rd @ Woodberry Forrest (Win), December 13th VS Christchurch School, December 20-23: Richmond Times-Dispatch Tournament, December 27-29: BCCC Tournament at Benedictine. January 4th VS St. Chris, January 9th @ Benedictine, January 11th @ FUMA, January 24th @ St. Chris, February 4th VS Woodberry Forrest, February 6th VS FUMA, February 11th @ Christchurch.
Best-case scenario: The Titans use their strong leadership and their offense is like one of Duke's and their defense resembles VCU, and they only lose about 5 or 6 games, really soaring into the playoffs down a pivotal stretch of games from the 24th of January to the end of their season at February 11th. They keep the injuries and setbacks limited behind Josh and Abe in the backcourt, and that their big men in Nathan, Austin, and Ant can spread the floor and dominate defenders inside and near the basket. That Zane Lewis, Eli, Camm, and Aaron all provide a spark on the court with their great defensive play and passing ability. The Titans go far in the TDIT, BCCC, and get to the championship of the Virginia Prep Legue Tournament and qualify and win at least 3 games in the Virginia State Tournament.
Daniel Pinson held down the fort in the middle of the lineup and in relief pitching during the magical Trinity baseball run down the stretch last year. Pinson, who was a consistent pitcher who you could count on to mow opposing hitters down late into games out of the pen, and also consistently was able to gun down guys from Right Field last year, actually didn't have his best moment of the year on the mound. In the State semi-final game against Flint Hill, Pinson came up to bat in the top of the 8th inning (the first extra inning for high school), and ripped the 0-1 pitch down the left field line of Shepherd's Stadium for the eventual game-winning homer that propelled Trinity into the State Final, in which they lost 8-3, to St. Chris. Even in the State Championship defeat, Pinson was a vital part. He came in the game early in relief of Matt Jamer, and threw 4 scoreless innings, which kept St. Chris silent the rest of the way. Now a senior, Pinson was looking at various colleges. Earlier this month, he went up to the University of Virginia for a visit. There, they had him throw a few pitches to look at his mechanics and to see how fast he could fireball it into the catcher's mitt 60 feet away. The radar gun up there in Charlottesville clocked Pinson's fastest fastball in at 92 miles per hour, which even at the professional level, some pitchers can't get too. Virginia, a prestigious baseball school, is usually one of the Top 10 baseball schools in the nation every year. After examining Pinson some more, they offered him a scholarship. Pinson mulled it over for a bit, and officially committed to the University of Virginia on a baseball scholarship earlier this month.Pinson's commitment marks now the second current Trinity baseball member to commit to a Division 1 College, the other one being staff ace Tyler Johnson, who committed to the University of South Carolina last year. This is the program's 3rd D-1 commit in the last year, the third one being Matt Jamer, who is currently a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Trinity Football team, coming off a impressive win against Christchurch last Saturday, seemed amped up coming into Saturday's game against Number 1 ranked Bishop Sullivan. Trinity, ranked 4th in division Two standing with a 2-3 record, stormed out of the gates on the right foot. They drove right down to Bishop Sullivan's 13 yard line behing the running attack of Abe Ferrell-Logan and Caedan Knight, before settling for a field goal nailed by Will Michael mid way through the first quarter. The defense for trinity also came out of the gates really stellar, forcing the dynamic offense of Bishop Sullivan to punt, turn it over, and punt on
their first three drives. Trinity owned the first quarter, and it showed on the scoreboard, as they were up 3-0. On their second drive, the Trinity offense once again looked great, moving right down the field against the Crusaders defense, highlighted by a 38 yard catch by Anthony Roberson from Abe Ferrell-Logan. But the drive also stalled deep into Bishop Sullivan territory, and Will Michael ended up missing a 27-yard field goal wide right, shifting the momentum of the game over to Bishop Sullivan. The Trinity defense once again halted that momentum, and got a nice return from Caedan Knight on the ensuing kick. Neeshant Parikh than nailed a 34-yard strike to Rimoni Dorsey in the end zone. making it 10-0 Titans. The Trinity defense started to falter a little bit, allowing Bishop Sullivan to score 12 unanswered points to finish off the half and put them in the lead going into the locker rooms. Bishop Sullivan got the ball to start the 2nd half, and started to fire passes all over the field, one landing in the end zone coming out of the break to put them up, 18-10. The Trinity offense was trying to claw their way back into the game possession by possession, but could get nowhere. Some turnovers stalled some good looking drives, and unfortunately turned the momentum in Bishop Sullivan's favor after continuing to capitalize on the miscues. After the 3rd quarter, The Crusaders had extended their streak of unanswered points to 34 as the score was 34-10, Crusaders. Momentum finally seemed to shift somewhat in the 4th quarter, as Neesh connected with Rimoni again in the end zone, this time from 26-yards out, mid way through the fourth quarter. After a 8-point response from Bishop Sullivan on a TD and 2-point conversion, There was only 4 minutes left on the clock. Not trying to risk his starting quarterback late in a not very close game, Mickens put in recently transferred sophomore QB Bailey Hardy in at the helm of the offense for the final few minutes. In his very first play from scrimmage, Bailey hit Jack Freudanthal on a 6-yard curl route, in which he spun off a tackler and booked it down the sideline for a very nice 69-yard Touchdown. Will Michael nailed the extra point, and that would be that. Trinity lost one where the effort and grit was most definitely showed against a tough opponent.
HIGHLIGHTS: Neeshant Parikh went 5-11, 88 yards, 2 TDS, 2 INTS. Abe Ferrell-Logan had 20 carries for 85 yards and threw for 50 yards and 1 INT. Rimoni Dorsey had 70 yards receiving and 2 TDS, and also 1 pick from the defensive side. Jack Freudanthal had 80 yards receiving and 1 TD.
UP NEXT: Trinity will try and up their record to 3-4 next Saturday on Homecoming against #2 Blue Ridge.
PICTURE COURTESY OF: Clovis Khoury
Hey, This is The Daily Shield, a blog that will inform you on all of the latest scores, news, Highlights, and other good stuff involving Sports surrounding Trinity Episcopal School, located in Richmond. I created this blog for Creative Writing Class at Trinity, but before I created this, as you can see in the description above, I made a Twitter account surrounding Titan Sports and scores. I feel like this blog will be an extension of that Twitter account from the scores aspect for people that don't have a Twitter or just want to be updated on sports surrounding Trinity (Richmond Times-Dispatch, CBS 6, etc.). I want this extension because I feel like we can reach out to more people like alumni, parents, and other people involved in the Trinity community so that the blog can grow. But also, I will have other features on here like Game Recaps and "Player Profile" posts that will only exclusively be accessible here. So it's a bit of give and take, I guess. I hope you find my blog an informative aspect of Trinity sports and find it easy to navigate, because this blog really is for the students and faculty of the school. If the blog gets big enough, even after I graduate from Trinity in 2 short years, i hope to give the blog off to a apprentice that will keep it going even though I'm not at Trinity. Enjoy your reading.
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