Trinity Classical Academy senior Noah Visconti said he’s happy to get to play one high school football season with his little brother.
On Saturday, the two Viscontis, Noah and freshman Aiden, were key to the Knights (2-0) getting off to a strong start against the Channel Islands Raiders (1-1), leading the way to a 58-12 victory at College of the Canyons’ Cougar Stadium.
“You know, throwing the ball to him, giving him the rock — there was one deep one, he just kept juking people out and just kept moving,” Noah said. “He’s a stud. He’s a fighter. I love him to death. I’m so happy we got to play together for one year.”
The older Visconti was nearly flawless at quarterback for the Knights, tossing for 358 yards and five touchdowns while completing 20 of his 27 pass attempts. He was a perfect 7-for-7 in the first quarter with two touchdowns, both to senior John Carlson.
“Quick game, getting the ball in playmaker’s hands. That’s the goal,” Noah said of the fast start.
Aiden Visconti had three catches for 65 yards, all in the first half, adding a touchdown on the ground midway through the second quarter.
That touchdown sparked a Trinity run in the second quarter, with the Knights putting up 29 unanswered to take a 45-6 lead into the break.
Seniors Luke Backes and Andrew Kelley each reeled in touchdown passes during that stretch.
“Defense shut them down, which allowed us to get the ball,” Noah Visconti said. “Offense gets the glory while the defense does the dirty work. And we did great. Everybody contributed. There’s multiple touchdowns from multiple different guys from multiple different ages. Great to see everybody working together and just getting the ball in playmakers’ hands.”
Junior Hudson Sweitzer added a 4-yard run for a score, one of two rushing touchdowns he had on the night.
“When my line can block for me and I can run it in, it’s just a team victory,” Sweitzer said.
Sophomore Andrew Carlson added a 20-yard catch for a score late in the third quarter before Sweitzer iced the game in the fourth with his second TD.
The Knights saw eight different receivers record at least one catch. Knights head coach Mike Parrinello said that’s part of the game plan to keep the focus off any one player.
“We don’t want you to be able to target and focus on one guy, and we can bring a guy like Jordan (Lovelace), who can just, you know, burn it up a little bit,” Parrinello said, “And then a veteran like Chase Backes, he’s just kind of a possession guy. He came out, made two nice catches. It’s nice when you can roll guys off the bench who know the offense really well and go out there and contribute.”
Lovelace, a member of the Trinity baseball team who is playing football for the first time as a senior, reeled in two catches for 37 yards and had a big kickoff return after the Raiders’ second TD to set up Andrew Carlson’s score.
The Raiders scored late in the first quarter on an 86-yard pass from senior Nolan Salinas to senior Martin Maidaa. The other came late in the third when Salinas found senior Erik Chavez open in the end zone from 6 yards out.
Parrinello said both plays came from busted coverages, but other than that, he thought his defense was “phenomenal.”
“You’re going to give up points. Channel Islands is a good team,” Parrinello said. “They got some talent over there. We’re not shutting a team like that out, you know. That’s not the expectation.”
The Knights were working with short fields during much of the second quarter when they went on that 29-0 run.
“When the defense does their job, we look good, and those guys are the grunts and they do the job,” Noah Visconti said. “We can’t win a game without a defense and our defense is the heart and soul of this team. And that’s what makes us win ballgames.”
The Knights are 2-0 for the second straight year and are hoping for more success. Last year, Trinity was unable to keep the momentum going, dropping the final eight games of the season.
Parrinello acknowledged that the work isn’t even close to being done, but he likes where his team is at.
The Knights are on the road next as they travel south to the San Fernando Valley to take on the Monroe Vikings (0-2), who lost to Taft on the road this week, 43-6.
“We’re still trying to get better, but where we are today is probably a good month, two, three games ahead of where we were last year. But on the other side of that, we opened 2-0 last year, then our schedule got tougher, which is going to get tougher starting next week,” Parrinello said. “This is going to really be the test. This is going to be, ‘OK, are we really progressing? Are we really building, or are we just, you know, kind of fortunate to catch two teams that are going to be better later in the season and we caught them at the right time?’ Monroe is going to be tough. They’re always just a good, solid team with some good football players.”
