PREP PREVIEW: Trinity fighting injury bug entering key game with ACA

Trinity’s Seawell McKee, sporting a cast on his right hand, tries to stop BTW Tyrike McCullough, in the season-opening win for the Wildcats. They face Alabama Christian tonight at Ragsdale-Boykin Field. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

It’s early September and the list of nagging injuries, such as ankle sprains, reads like a Saturday morning evaluation in early November before the 12th week of the season. The most popular person associated with Trinity’s football team may be the trainer.

Head coach Granger Shook doesn’t like discussing the injuries, determined that his players won’t hear him using it as an excuse.

“We’ve had some young guys step up and fill some shoes,” he said, “and I think they’re doing a good job. It’s just one of those unforeseen circumstances that is unfortunate for some seniors that won’t be able to play.”

It all started, Seawell McKee believes, with his fractured right hand in the summer. As he returned to full strength, fellow senior Dawson Criswell, a big-play receiver who sat out the 2021 season with a knee injury, suffered another season ending knee injury.

A week later, in the season opening win over Booker T. Washington, scoring threat Trevor Pearson was next as the senior tailback was lost for the year with a knee injury. By the third week, as many as five starters were sidelined with injuries, players that fill additional roles on the other side of the ball as well as on special teams, making five injuries seem like a dozen.

“I was like the first one,” McKee said. “Shortly thereafter was when Dawson tore his ACL and about a week later was when Trevor’s deal happened. Then there’s been ankle sprains and then (tailback) Ross Sanders had the broken tibia.

“It’s been chaotic. It’s gotten to the point of ‘when is this going to end?’ But there’s also been positives to it, because it’s helped everyone who’s healthy pull closer together. The seniors we have left have stepped up, drawn closer together, and taken on bigger roles.”

It was a small senior class to begin with, but now with two starters sidelined it includes David Michael Leiux, a receiver and defensive back; Will Owen, a linebacker and running back; Norris Pemberton, the Wildcats’ top receiver; Harrison Johnson, a linebacker; and Zac Childs and Harrison Parkman, a pair of two-way linemen.

Parkman, like McKee, was primarily a defensive contributor in the past but has taken on more of a leadership role on both sides of the ball as a senior.

“In years past, we’ve had the luxury of just playing him on defense and bringing him in on offense if needed,” Shook said. “But he moves pretty well and playing him at offensive tackle allows us to do certain things on offense that we haven’t been able to do in the past. He plays with the right kind of attitude. He’s a bigger body, so he can lean on you a little bit. He’s got pretty good feet, so he can climb to the second level. He can do a lot of those things that other guys have not been able to do in the past.”

Parkman doubled his playing time -- and his responsibilities -- by starting at left tackle.

“It’s tough, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “It’s a lot different, playing the whole game compared to just half of it. It was pretty nice just playing defense, but it’s my senior year and I want to play both ways.”

As an offensive lineman, he has watched first hand as changes at receiver, tailback and quarterback have changed the look of the Trinity offense.  

“When we had Trevor, I’d feel like he could just break loose and run (for a touchdown) on the first or second play and we could just go back to defense,” Parkman said. “Now, we’re just pounding the football, run play after run play, and that’s pretty strenuous on the offensive line. But we’ve got some young guys who are doing pretty good and I hope they all stay sound.”

Both McKee and Parkman admit the injuries on offense has brought a little more focus to a defensive side of the ball that has remained relatively healthy throughout the first three weeks of the season.  

“It adds a little pressure,” McKee said. “Last week, we did a lot of takeaway drills and it carried over to Friday (the game at Southside) with the defense scoring touchdowns and getting a safety. The defense has definitely realized that our job is a lot more important now.”

“We’re still held to the same standard,” Parkman noted. “I think we’ve really established the line of scrimmage on defense.”

Following a disappointing double-overtime loss to Montgomery Academy in the second week of the season, the Wildcats rebounded with an impressive 51-30 win over Southside-Selma, a team that has won 14 of its last 18 regular-season games dating back to 2020. The Wildcats (2-1) play their first home region game on Friday against Alabama Christian Academy.

“Regardless of the adversity we’ve had to overcome, it’s still been a successful season to this point,” McKee said.

Parkman said the Wildcats may look a little different from the beginning of the season, but the game plan hasn’t changed.

“I don’t want to say we don’t score as much, but I think (the injured players) would help us score a lot more,” Parkman said. “But we’ve got a good game plan for them. We’ve got guys who have to step up and do their job.”