Madonna travels to Trinity Christian
Blue Dons looking to solidify playoff position against the No. 10 Warriors
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MORGANTOWN -- The way Madonna head coach Dan Rovira sees it, there are a lot of similarities between his Blue Dons and the Morgantown Trinity Christian squad they will face on Friday night.
Both teams are small schools playing down on numbers late in the season, both like to throw the ball and both are in position to make the Class A playoff field.
"They're hurting in terms of numbers, even more so than us. I think they have 14 guys right now.," Rovira said of the Warriors. "The difference is they have a young team, and we're an older team."
By comparison, after the Blue Dons lost Jonah McKay to an injury in last week's win at Hundred, the Dons have 19 players.
"We're in a similar situation," Rovira said.
Despite the low numbers, Trinity sits with a 6-2 record and in the No. 10 spot in the playoff rankings. The top eight teams in the class get a home game in the opening round of the playoffs.
Both of Trinity's losses have come to unbeaten, No. 1 Cameron, who also has a win over Madonna. Last week, the Dragons prevailed 30-0 over the Warriors in a game that was stopped in the third quarter in an unusual situation.
The Intelligencer reported that the Warriors walked off the field and coach Christopher Simpson said, "there were several racial slurs, and I was just unsatisfied and unpleased with how they (Cameron) were handling things on the field. I was just not going to leave my kids on the field in what I felt was a dangerous situation."
Cameron coach Tim Brown told The Intelligencer the reasoning for ending the game was a "complete fabrication."
"Our kids would not, and did not, say or do those things," he said.
The was the second time the teams had met, as Cameron also edged Trinity 22-13 on Oct. 1. On Sept. 28, the Dragons took a 38-20 decision over Madonna at Jimmy Carey Stadium in what was a battle of, at the time, teams ranked in the top five in the state.
Trinity and Madonna have two other common opponents in the Bridgeport Bulldogs and Hundred Hornets.
The Warriors topped Bridgeport 28-14 in their opener and Hundred 63-0 a couple of weeks back. Madonna has a 48-20 win over the Bulldogs in Week 3 and a 58-0 win over the Hornets last week.
As for what to expect from the Warriors, Rovira expects them to air it out.
"They throw the ball a lot," Rovira said. "When you're low on numbers and you have skilled players, that is what you do.
"Like me, I'm sure they would like to run the ball more if they could.
"They run a 4-4 base defense. They changed it against Cameron because Cameron has a good back, but I expect to see them back in a 4-4."
Jaylon Hill leads the Trinity offense, throwing for 554 yards and three scores, while Chayce Adams has added another 174 and four scores through the air.
Levi Teets is the leading rusher with 437 yards and 11 trips to the endzone. He has also hauled in 12 passes, three for scores. The leading receiver is Carmelo Kniska with 27 catches for 328 yards.
The Warriors average 107 passing yards and 87 rushing yards while scoring an average of 26 points.
Madonna, meanwhile, also has offensive weapons as Santino Arlia is the area's leading passer with 1,954 yards and 29 TDs. His favorite target, Evan Quering, has 46 grabs for 881 and 13 scores.
In the win over Hundred, Arlia broke his own record for passing yards in a game and tied his own record for TDs in a game with six. The senior signal caller holds every single game, season and career passing record at Madonna.
The Dons get 260.8 of there 339.3 yards through the air, while averaging 32.8 points.
While Trinity may still be in contention to get a home game in the playoffs, Madonna's focus is on closing strong and maybe inching up another spot or two for a better match up from where they sit in 13th.
"I told our kids we have a chance to go 7-3 and there are a lot of teams behind us that wish they could be 7-3," Rovira said. "For the numbers we have, just getting in the playoffs is an accomplishment.
"We have played some solid teams. Conotton Valley, Toronto, Mathews were playoff teams (in Ohio) and Cameron is No. 1.
"If we win, I think we can move up to 11 or 12 and a lot of teams would take that."
While it will be their second game in a row away from home and potential playoff game ahead will also be away from home, Madonna does not mind making the trek, as they are 3-1 away from Weirton this season.
"We don't mind going on the road, there aren't as many distractions and things like that," Rovira said. "We travel well. Once the game starts, it doesn't matter where you're playing. The field is still 100 yards.
"We've won more games on the road this year than we have at home so being away doesn't bother us."
The kick Friday is set for 7 p.m.