NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. -- A shutdown defensive effort led Trine to a season-opening 23-9 victory over Manchester in the season-opener Thursday night at Burt Field.
The Thunder picked off three passes, notched five sacks and held the Spartans to a combined 5-of-22 conversion rate (22.7 percent) on third and fourth downs. Cornerback Marcus Winters (Toledo, Ohio / Central Catholic) paced the opportunistic defensive effort with a pair of interceptions. The sophomore has come away with two INTs in each of her first two career games against the Spartans. Cayleel Hill (Owings Mills, Md. / Owings Mills) added his first career interception to help seal the victory late.
Trine's front seven was able to consistently force pressure in the Manchester backfield on its way to five sacks and nine tackles-for-loss. Making his first career start at linebacker, senior John Morrison (Wheatfield, Ind. / Kankakee Valley) picked up his first two career sacks and led the Thunder with 12 tackles overall. Me'Leick Miles (Indianapolis, Ind. / Pike) added a pair of sacks as part of a career-high 11-tackle performance.
The nine points allowed by Trine represented the lowest allowed by the Thunder since a 27-7 victory over Rockford on Sep. 20, 2014. Trine allowed just 5-of-18 conversions on third down (27.8 percent) and no fourth down conversions in four attempts.
Lamar Carswell (Toledo, Ohio / St. Francis De Sales) paced the rushing attack with 150 yards on 15 carries, most of which came in the second half. Carswell now has two efforts of 100-plus rushing yards against Manchester in his career and three such efforts overall.
After the two teams traded empty possessions to start the game, the Spartans got on the board first on a 30-yard field goal by Andrew Coe midway through the first quarter.
The Thunder had an immediate answer. An 18-yard completion from Brandon Rooze (West Lafayette, Ind. / Benton Central) to Jeffery Barnett (Fremont, Ohio / Fremont-Ross) moved Trine across midfield. On the next play, Rooze connected on a long pass to Andrew Bonfiglio (Toledo, Ohio / St. Francis de Sales) for a 41-yard touchdown strike and a 7-3 lead.
Rooze and Bonfiglio provided a spark for the Thunder in the passing game. Rooze completed 17-of-31 passes for 197 yards and the touchdown. Bonfiglio hauled in seven of those passes for 92 yards.
The game would remain that way until midway through the third quarter. Taylor James (LaPorte, Ind. / LaPorte) forced a fumble to deny the Spartans a fourth-down conversion late in the first half. Third-down sacks by Miles and Joseph Griffin (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Wayne), as well as Winters' two picks kept the Spartan offense in check.
The second of Winters' interceptions led to Trine's next scoring drive. Lucas Garza (Syracuse, Ind. / Wawasee) took advantage of the short field to convert his first-career field goal attempt from 35 yards out to push the score to 10-3 with 5:59 to play in the third quarter.
A 60-yard touchdown run by All-HCAC running back Hunter Hardee cut the score to 10-9 with 12:30 to play. Manchester elected to go for two points and the lead, but the effort was snuffed out by the Thunder defense to keep Trine ahead. Hardee was the workhorse of the Spartans' offense, grinding out 174 yards on 27 carries.
Carswell took over from there, providing the offense with a much-needed boost down the key stretch of the game. The sophomore racked up 86 of his yards on nine carries in the final quarter. He accounted for 42 yards on the ensuing Thunder drive, capping it off with a six-yard TD run to push the score to 17-9.
After the two teams traded stops, Hill came away with an interception on a deep throw to turn the ball back over to the Trine offense. Carswell once again provided the heavy lifting on the ground, and a key completion from Rooze to Scott McClellan (Huntington, Ind. / Huntington North) on third-and-seven kept the chains moving. Carswell put the exclamation point on the drive with an electric 13-yard scamper for the final score of the game.
Nathan Birk paced the Manchester defense with 14 tackles. He added a forced fumble. Quarterback Tristan Chester completed 16-of-35 passes for 163 yards.
Trine returns to action next Saturday, Sep. 10 in the home-opener against Bluffton. Kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. in Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.