Daily Dive: Blessed Trinity and Marist battle for spot in Elite Eight

Tonight Blessed Trinity will make a short 15-mile road trip to Marist High School to take on the rival War Eagles in what has been deemed the “Catholic Bowl”. There is so much on the line for both programs—including a favorable bracket that could lead either team far deeper into the playoffs. The Titans and Marist have scrimmaged one another in each of the last two seasons, but this will the the first regular season matchup since 2023 when Marist won 31-14. The all-time series is tied 4-4 and that even head-to-head is the result of Marist winning each of the last three meetings. The biggest chapter in the Catholic Bowl came in 2017 when Marist defeated Blessed Trinity 25-24 in the regular season before Blessed Trinity took the rematch 16-7 for the Class 4A state title.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

Marist has won 10-straight games since its 19-0 loss to Jefferson Week 1. That loss to the Dragons was not at all surprising, considering Marist was unable to have a spring practice because of weather and was replacing nearly its entire offense from last year. What is perhaps more surprising is how dominant Marist has been since—averaging about 40 ppg offensively and allowing just seven ppg in the 10 games since.

Blessed Trinity is more battle tested in terms of the amount of ranked opponents and defending state champions the Titans have faced this season. It has been an up and down year for the third-seeded Titans, however, every loss this season came by the narrowest of margins and the first round of the playoffs saw the team weather the storm and topple Stockbridge 28-27 in overtime. Blessed Trinity sealed the victory after the Tigers scored in overtime and attempted the game-tying PAT as DJ Jacobs leapt up and smothered the attempt to block it for the win.

In that game, Blessed Trinity trailed host Stockbridge 14-0 before taking the lead with a trio of touchdowns. The Titans finally got on the board with 0:45 remaining in the second quarter when Ahmontae Pitts capped off a drive that was extended by a faked punt for a fresh set of downs. MJ Craft knotted the game on Blessed Trinity’s opening drive of the second half on a run from 27 yards out, then answered back-to-back interceptions on defense by Ryder Register and Brody Bohannon with a go-ahead touchdown with just over two minutes in regulation. Stockbridge added a score in the final moments of the fourth to force overtime, but JD Calloway put Blessed Trinity back on top with a 2-yard keeper before the blocked kick after the Tigers’ touchdown sealed the Titans win.

Defensively, Blessed Trinity did a great job of bending, but not breaking—allowing just 21 points in regulation despite Stockbridge amassing 432 passing yards.

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