Trinity falls to defending champ
by Joey Martin - posted Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 @ 3:03 pm

Trinity Episcopal took the MAIS defending Class AA state champions to the wire before falling to Simpson Academy 21-14 in Mendenhall Friday.

"They jumped on us early, but our guys didn't fold the tent," said Trinity coach Josh Loy, who took over as head coach just before the start of the season. "They wanted this bad, especially our seniors. We were able to get back in the game, but just came up short."

Simpson scored the winning TD on a 52-yard fumble return in the third quarter.

Simpson scored the first two touchdowns before Tanner Cage scored on a 3-yard run to pull the Saints to within 14-7 at halftime.

Trinity tied the game at 14-14 as Cage scored on a 24-yard TD run with 8:36 remaining in the third period.

Trinity, which will move down to Class A next year, finished 8-5.

"We finished the year with 17 ballplayers and were right there in the mix up to advancing to South State," Loy said. "I can't ask for anymore from these guys. We're moving down to Class A where we feel we can be more competitive with our numbers. I'm anxious to go through the offseason and spring with these guys. We're excited about the future."