Depleted Knights struggle to stop the run, Rangers win, 57-22
Trinity Classical Academy football head coach Mike Parrinello was quite frank about his team’s play on the road last week at Nordhoff.
The Knights (2-2) were handed a 57-22 loss on Friday, their second in a row, after the Rangers’ (1-3) senior running back, Sol McGarey, ran for 405 yards and six touchdowns.
“We were definitely out of position a lot and definitely not doing what we were assigned and what we’ve been taught,” Parrinello said. “And that made a good running back even better — not that he didn’t deserve all the credit, because he absolutely did. He still had to do it and absolutely took advantage of it. But, I would have liked to see better from our guys as well.”
While not making any excuses, Parrinello was missing some key players — juniors Andrew Kelley and Adam Hirsch and senior Owen Kush did not play due to injury while senior lineman Holden Algee got hurt in the game — and had to make do with inexperience across the field. Sophomore Micah Spring had to step up in what was his first start for the program, while freshmen Matthew Te Winkel and Maddox Rice were also tasked with taking over for more experienced upperclassmen.
Practice this week for Trinity will be all about getting those inexperienced guys more prepared should they be asked to fill in once more. Parrinello is unsure yet if the players who were missing will be back in time for this Friday’s road game at Santa Paula.
“It’s something we got to work on,” Parrinello said. “When you’re dealing with a lot of young players with not a lot of football experience, you know, (teaching) becomes a big part of what we need to do.”
As well as Nordhoff ran the ball, the Rangers were just as good stopping the run. The Knights only had 10 run plays, finishing with negative yardage. Knights junior quarterback Noah Visconti was asked to throw much more than usual, tossing two touchdowns while completing 24 of 46 passes for 310 yards.
Trinity junior John Carlson caught one of those touchdown passes as one of his six catches. Senior Tyler Backman caught the other touchdown pass, while junior Luke Backes had seven catches for 111 yards.
The passing game helped to keep it to a two-score game early in the third quarter before Nordhoff ran away with it.
“I think we did have some bright spots,” Parrinello said. “I liked the way our offense looked. I thought we were clicking. I think at times we might have been trying to do too much. You know, there’s no 14-point plays, and I think sometimes our guys want to do a little too much when they get down.
“I love to run and I’d love to run more. But, at the same time, if this is what’s working, this is what we’re gonna go with.”
Carlson led the Knights with eight tackles on defense, one ahead of sophomores Nicolas Delgado and Hudson Sweitzer. Spring had five tackles and Te Winkle and Rice had four each. Delgado also recorded an interception.
Trinity will look to stop the skid this Friday but will have to do so against the “toughest competition” that the Knights will have faced thus far in the Santa Paula Cardinals (4-0), who bested the Knights last season, 34-26.
“I think it’s gonna be a challenge for us,” Parrinello said. “But, I also think, in some ways, every week we’re getting more experienced and some of our players are just getting better and better. And we like that challenge. There’s no better way to get tested and no better way to get experience than against really good football teams.”
