ABILENE – The Trinity Tigers opened up the 2018 season with a 44-0 rout of the Wildcats of McMurry University at Wilford Moore Stadium on Thursday night.
The result was the first shutout for the Tigers since opening the season with a 14-0 win over Austin College in 2016.
After a scoreless opening quarter, Trinity blew the game open in the second quarter. Running back Evan McDowell’s eight-yard run opened the scoring but kicker Jonathan Reyes missed the extra point attempt to make it 6-0.
The Tigers added two more scores before halftime and both came off passes from quarterback Wyatt Messex. Trinity made it 13-0 when Messex found Chris Stewart for an 80-yard bomb with 8:35 to play in the half and Tommy Lavine caught an 11-yard pass from Messex to make it 20-0 at the break.
McDowell added to Trinity’s lead with his longest run of the night at 34 yards for the score, while backup running back Charles Davis scored on a 68-yard run to make it 37-0.
Messex finished the game with two touchdowns, completing 8 of his 18 passes for 161 yards. McDowell ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Overall, Trinity finished with 531 yards of total offense in a possession time of 29:42.
Defensively, it was a clinic for the Tigers. They allowed just 265 yards of offense for McMurry as quarterback Kevin Hurley Jr threw for 175 yards, going 13-for-23 for the game.
UP NEXT:
Trinity is 1-0 on the season and will return to the field next Saturday when they host Hardin-Simmons (TX) University at 6 p.m. CT.
