By Arvon Bacon, NTH Contributing Writer
Kicking off their football season, the Trinity Lions faced the nationally-ranked Athens Academy Spartans under the Friday night lights for a battle that jump-started their program into the top-tier echelon.
The night for the Lions would begin with everything going as planned as the defense prevented the Spartans from picking up a first down. Out the gate, Lions quarterback David Dallas connected with Coleman Duncan on a 13-yard pass to move the chains for a first down.
However, the perfect plan became skewed when the Spartans held the Lions to fourth-and-four, which they would elect to go for. However, running back Tyson Wall would be stopped one yard short to turn the ball over on downs.
The Spartans offense would again take the field, and score the third play into the drive on a 58-yard quarterback run to score the first touchdown of the game. Proceeding the Spartans touchdown, the Lions running back Wall wouldn’t be stopped short again and broke loose for a monstrous 38-yard gain.
The Lions gained another 12 yards on a pass and catch from Dallas to Javan Harrison to put the Lions in position to cut the Spartan lead to four after converting on a field-goal to end the first quarter down, 3-7.
Entering into the second quarter, the Spartans widened the deficit to 14-3 after a one-yard rushing touchdown by their running back. Prior to the Spartan touchdown, the Lions jumped offsides on a previous fourth-down and 1 on the 13th-yard line that would prove costly.
When it seemed the score was about to get out of hand, the Lions took a shot on a deep pass downfield that resulted in a pass-interference infraction by the Spartans, which gave the Lions a free 15 yards and a first-down on Trinity’s own 42-yard line.
The Lions capitalized on the free yards by punching the ball into the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown run to make the score, 10-14 with three minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Despite the strong performance displayed the Lions, they contributed to several mental mistakes when the Lions punter received a bad punt which was recovered by the Spartans to give short field on the Lions 32 yard-line.
The Lions defense showed great resiliency, as Zion Marseille and Josiah Johnson gobbled up the Spartans quarterback to force a third-down. Following the half sacks, Bryce Wilcox generated a tackle for a loss of five, and the Spartans would settle for a field goal to go into half-time up seven, 10-17.
The score remained gridlocked 10-17 for the rest of the battle. However, the Lions would squander two field goals down the stretch that would show to be costly as they would neither team would score another point.
The ending of the game would have an uncanny ending as the refs would signal a runoff as things would get a little chippy down the stretch from both sides; however fortunately coaches would gain control of their respective teams before any punches were thrown as the would end in bizarre fashion 10-17.
Lions Head coach Kenny Dallas gathered his team together after an altercation and relayed the importance of controlling their emotions in the heat of battle is crucial for the season they envision having.
“Back in the days when men fought had to hand, here’s how they knew when a warhorse was ready for battle; if they could put a flame under its nose and it wouldn’t move,” said Dallas.
Dallas would also reinforce to his players to always walk away and control your emotions when stating to his team that, “a man name is worth more than silver and gold”. 
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Trinity closes the gap, drops home opener - Newnan Times-Herald
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