Wednesday’s Class 3 regional playoff football game at Trinity Catholic continued a string of firsts for the Titans’ football program.

First, two weeks ago in the middle of districts, Trinity clinched its first-ever playoff bid. Then last week, the Titans clinched the program’s first-ever district title.

On Wednesday, Trinity not only hosted its first-ever playoff football game but the Titans also came away with the 28-7 win over St. Francis Borgia.

“This feels good and it’s different for us, I’ll say that,” Trinity coach Leon Hite said. “We deal with a lot of adversity off the field and the boys don’t want to get sidetracked with that. Today, our kids stepped out and made plays against a team that had a lot of history behind them. This school is legendary in soccer, boys and girls, and now we’re trying to make a name on the football end.”

Trinity (8-3) sure made a name for itself with its play Wednesday. The Titans took a 7-0 lead with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left in the first quarter when Marquise Hill ripped off a 34-yard scoring run and A.J. Freihoff added the extra point.

The play, which was a near mirror image to Hill’s scoring run in Trinity’s 10-7 loss just a few weeks ago, came on the first play after Toma Peebles intercepted a Michael Watkins pass and was subsequently lost with an apparent knee injury on the play.

“You’ve got to want it, that’s what it’s about,” Hill said. “I’ve been here four years and wins have come but they’ve never felt this good.”

The Titans extended the lead to 14-0 when running back Jordan Barnes ripped off a 62-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter. With 11:48 left before half, Trinity was up 14-0 after Freihoff’s second extra point.

“If felt great,” Barnes said. “It was a counter right and I read my brother James’ (block) and there was just open field from there. I told myself that I was going to score. I’m the only (running back) without a touchdown of over 50 yards. I’ve got one now.”

Borgia (7-4) would have an answer, though. The Knights immediately took the ball on a 13-play, 69 yard drive that encompassed 5:17 and made the score 14-7 when Watkins found wide receiver T.J. Findeiss with a 33-yard scoring pass down the left side of the end zone.

Justin Graham’s extra point cut the Titans’ lead in half at 14-7.

“They took the run game away from us and we had to overcome that,” Borgia coach Dale Gildehaus said. “We’ve got great yon men but we’re not strong enough to drive the ball downfield all game against a team like them.”

The thing that ‘broke the Knights’ back’ according to Gildehaus came just after the Knights’ second quarter score.

That’s when Trinity drove the ball on an 11-play, 56 yard drive and scored on a 10-yard pass from backup quarterback Terrence Watson to Hill with 43.2 seconds left before halftime to make the score 21-7.

“I’m going to honest, he hadn’t had any work there in a while,” said Hite of Watson’s level of readiness at quarterback. “I was very impressed by him, the senior just stepping up. He was not being selfish because he knows we were asking him to do a lot on defense because that’s very taxing on him and he did it all.

“You know, Toma was a little upset because he wasn’t out there,” continued Hite. “But he’s been hurt before. We’ll get him checked out and he’ll be back. We plan on playing a few more weeks and he’ll be back.”

The only score of the second half came on a 40-yard run by running back Zibeon Washington with 4:17 to play. After Freihoff’s fourth extra point, Trinity had its final advantage at 28-7.

Hill amassed 66 yards on the ground on 10 carries and the one rushing score as well a the receiving touchdown. Barnes added one score of his own to go along with 153 rushing yards on 14 carries.

While Trinity’s offense did more than enough to win, its effort was backed up by a robust performance from the Titans’ defense. Trinity forced one fumble as well as an interception and also sacked Watkins five times on its way to victory.

“It was big for us to go out and play well on both sides of the ball,” Barnes said. “I love to run the ball and I love to hit (people). Tonight was fun.”

But Trinity will get little chance to rest, however, as the Titans will return to play Monday at home at 7 p.m. against Bowling Green (11-0) in a sectional game. The Bobcats defeated Trinity’s district runner-up Lutheran North 45-15 Wednesday.

“We haven’t seen anything on them, we’re just hearing from across the state like other guys about results,” Hite said. “We’ve heard a few people talk about what they can do but we’re just going to put our guys out there, compete and we’ll see what we can do.”

The winner of that game will advance to next Saturday’s Class 3 quarterfinal against either Fulton (6-5) or Mexico (5-6).

jfaasen@yourjournal.com