Belle Vernon’s Fine spoils Miller’s debut at Trinity
BELLE VERNON – It was a night of firsts between Trinity and Belle Vernon.
For the Hillers, it was the debut of their new head coach Jon Miller, who inherited an athletic team that now runs an up-tempo spread offense.
For Belle Vernon, it was the chance to show off their new gold turf field that sports black yard markers.
Leopards quarterback Mike Fine made sure that BV would go home happy, rushing for 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns and throwing for another 73 yards Friday night as the Leopards spoiled Miller’s debut with a 17-7 win in the Big 10 Conference opener for both teams.
Fine made big play after big play, mostly on third down and mostly on the read-option play, to bail the Leopards out of trouble on many occasions.
“We didn’t really show much of the read option during our scrimmages,” said Belle Vernon head coach Matt Humbert. “That is one of the primary things we do offensively and we really haven’t done much of it this year in practice. We tried to establish our counter but they kept stacking the box. A lot of credit goes to our kids for executing something we really didn’t rep a lot.”
Both teams had their chances to do much more than they did, but costly penalties did both teams in.
There were a total of 20 penalties called in the game, 10 on each team, with most of them negating big plays.
BV had five penalties called on one drive and even had a flag thrown on the band, who decided they wanted to play and not allow the third quarter to start.
“A lot of untimely penalties,” said Miller. “We had big plays called off. That’s no excuse. We have to be better at finishing. We gave one away tonight.”
Fine did his best to keep the Hillers off balance with his feet. Trinity did a good job containing the Bell Vernon offense early, but every time the Leopards needed a play, they kept the ball in their quarterback’s hands.
Trinity couldn’t get off the field on third down as Fine broke three long runs in the first half, including a 37-yard scamper late in the first quarter and a 12-yard touchdown run late in the first half to give BV a lead going into the half.
Belle Vernon scored on their first drive of the season on a 37-yard field goal from Derek Verkleeren.
Trinity had their best success of the half on their first drive as they kept it on the ground and marched 73 yards on 13 plays. While most of the damage was done from tailback Joey Koroly, it was fullback Saul Wells who found the end zone from two yards to give the Hillers a 7-3 lead.
BV took the ball on their next drive all the way down to the Trinity two-yard line, but tailback Luke Durigon lost a fumble trying to leap the pile into the end zone.
The Hillers couldn’t take advantage though and had to punt from deep in their own end. BV ended up with a short field and Fine gave the Leopards a 10-7 lead at the half with a touchdown run.
The third quarter turned into a penalty fest as neither team could sustain offense because of the abundance of flags.
Trinity’s best shot came late in the fourth quarter.
Backed up and facing a second-and-27 situation, Hillers’ quarterback Garrett Briant completed a pair of big passes to move the chains. Briant also converted a fourth-and-eight on the drive to give trinity kicker Sam Trapuzzano a chance to tie the game from 41 yards.
Trapuzzano lost his footing on the new turf and the kick sailed wide right. He wasn’t the only one that couldn’t stay on his feet as several receivers slipped coming out of their breaks.
“This isn’t a football field,” said Miller. “A lot of kids slipping. It’s not conducive to a football game.”
Trinity forced a three-and out to get the ball back, but couldn’t muster a fist down of their own.
Once the Leopards got the ball back with just under seven minutes remaining, they put together a 12-play drive that culminated with a four-yard touchdown run from Fine to give BV a 17-7 lead.
Trinity will try and get Miller his first victory when they host laurel highlands next Friday.
“We got to go back to the basics on Monday,” said Miller. “That’s the focus. To get better and get ready for Laurel Highlands.”