Trinity football coach Mike Parrinello couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season from his defense.
The Knights opened up the season with a 53-0 road victory over the Vasquez Mustangs as Trinity’s defense outscored its own offense.
Trinity found the end zone five times with its offense on the sidelines, thanks to a blocked punt, a pick-six and four fumble recoveries.
“The defense just dominated,” Parrinello said. “They put up so many points that it just made it a better situation for us. It allowed us to get some of our second, third and fourth groups in and to get a little bit of experience. The defense set the tone and they never let off in that second half.”
Luke Backes put the Knights on the board first after he recovered a blocked punt early in the first quarter, sparking a wave of Trinity TDs.
Freshman Aiden Visconti ran back a pick-six, while Hudson Sweitzer and both John and Andrew Carlson added fumble recoveries for touchdowns. Senior Andrew Kelley also nearly added an interception return but his score was called back due to a penalty.
Both Carlsons added scores on offense, as John added a rushing touchdown while Andrew caught the game’s only touchdown pass.
With the defensive onslaught, the Knights offense never got into a solid rhythm but luckily it didn’t need to. The Knights’ big lead put the running clock in play during the second half, limiting the offense to just three possessions, two of which Trinity scored on.
“The offense looks great when your defense scores that many points,” Parrinello said. “It was a defensive win. I think the offense sputtered a little bit but I’m not concerned about it. I think it was more the fact we just couldn’t get into a rhythm. We had a lot of defensive scores, then you go in for your extra points, and then you’re back on defense. It felt like we never really had a decent opportunity to establish the offense much after the first couple of drives.”
Parrinello hoped to establish the run early and praised his offensive line for clearing the way for Knights backs to average 6.5 yards per carry on Friday.
“We wanted to stick to the game plan, even if it took a little bit of time,” Parrinello said. “We wanted to establish the run and fortunately the line played very well, especially our first group.”
Trinity put up its first shutout win in two years, and for the coach, most impressively, reached the feat with its depth players playing the bulk of the second half.
“They took it upon themselves to want to continue with the shutout, which was really impressive to see when you have a lot of freshmen and young guys on the field,” Parrinello said. “They were really taking their jobs seriously and wanted to prove to the coaches that they were capable of being out on that field.”
Vasquez has now lost 20 straight games dating back to 2022.
Trinity will return to its own field Saturday and host the Channel Islands Raiders, in the Knights’ home opener at College of the Canyons.
Parrinello knows the competition is only getting tougher from this point on and will prepare Trinity to go 2-0 for the third straight season. Trinity welcomes Channel Islands on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Cougar Stadium.
“We’ve got a lot to work on,” Parrinello said. “The score was nice and it’s always better to be working with a victory behind you than the other way around, but we’ve gotta get the offense in a rhythm. We gotta make our reads and make good decisions out there.”
