MANCHESTER, N.H. – Trinity had little trouble taking down a visiting Inter-Lakes Moultonborough squad on Friday night, posting a 47-8 victory.
Both teams traded punts early on, with a botched recovery by Trinity halfway through the first quarter leading to an opportunity that the visiting Lakers would ultimately squander, turning the ball over on downs near midfield.
With the ball back, the Pioneers found the end zone a six-play drive culminating with seven-yard Paul Thibault touchdown. From there, it was all Trinity as the Pioneers finished the first half with rushing touchdowns by Jimbo Thibault as well as a second from Paul, plus a 10-yard passing touchdown received by Paul from sophomore quarterback Jack Service.
Trinity led 26-0 at halftime, with multiple missed extra points adding to the lack of discipline on punt returns as small miscues in what was otherwise a dominating first 28 minutes of the contest.
The Pioneers continued to dictate play in the second half, beginning with a 54-yard run by Service to open up the second half, bringing the ball to the Inter-Lakes one-yard line. Service would finish the job one play later, with a 45-yard rushing touchdown from Mark Nyoma and a 30-yard Devohn Ellis pick six providing the hosts their other scores.
Brayden Arruda found Cameron Bernier on a six-yard pass to give the Lakers their only touchdown of the night, completing an 11-yard drive that ate up most of the second half, given that the game had entered a running clock by that point.
“It was just a nice team win,” said Trinity Head Coach Rob Cathcart. “The beginning started out the way I expected. I thought it would be a pretty tight one. But then we just started playing well and things just started going.”
While it still may be too early to judge whether Trinity can recapture the championship form it found in 2019, Friday’s win and a 39-8 opening week win on the road against ConVal have certainly put a notice out to the rest of the NHIAA Division III squads that the boys from Derryfield Park will be contenders this season.
Trinity will host Winnisquam next Friday at 7 p.m., with Winnisquam hoping to avoid duplicating their opening week 30-0 loss to Inter-Lakes.
