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# Third-quarter touchdown run by Thibault made big difference for Trinity football
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/third-quarter-touchdown-run-by-thibault-made-big-difference-for-trinity-football/
- Published: 2019-11-27T13:00:07.000Z
- Updated: 2019-11-27T13:00:07.000Z
- Description: The Trinity High School football team spent most of the first half of Sunday's Division III championship game attacking the interior of Lebanon's defense. The Pioneers found plenty of success there, particularly in the second quarter, when they racked up 114 yards on 15 carries, and they entered hal
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division III-IV, championship, Division III, football, Lebanon, NH High School Sports Insider, playoffs, Trinity, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

The Trinity High School football team spent most of the first half of Sunday's Division III championship game attacking the interior of Lebanon's defense.

The Pioneers found plenty of success there, particularly in the second quarter, when they racked up 114 yards on 15 carries, and they entered halftime having rushed for more than six yards per carry on the day while building a 21-7 lead.

But during the break, Trinity players and coaches could already see that the Raiders were making adjustments to take away that inside running game.

"We’d been running those little leads up the middle all first half and I told coach (Rob Cathcart) they’re kind of weak outside because they’re overplaying it," Trinity senior John Thibault said. "Give me the ball and I’ll see what I can do."

So after Lebanon opened the second half with an 8-play, 55-yard scoring drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Wade Rainey that made it a one-score game, the Pioneers gave the ball to Thibault and let him run outside. The senior back ran around the left side of the line, but on his way there, Rainey burst into the backfield.

Thibault made him miss, and then, he was gone.

"They gave me the ball, there was only one guy to beat, so I beat him," he said. "All I saw was the pylon."

Thibault went 68 yards to give the Pioneers (11-1) a 28-14 lead, scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in a 28-21 victory for Trinity. It's the program's first championship since 2011 and comes just two years after the school dropped its varsity schedule due to a lack of upperclassmen.

"Right before half, we had some success with James running a dive right up the middle of the line," Cathcart said. "We came up with the idea to fake that and give the ball to John. They were keying on him heavily and that would take their eyes off him just for a second and let him pop out. It worked well."

It proved to be Trinity's biggest offensive play of the second half, as the Pioneers ran just 15 plays in the second half. Other than Thibault's big run, those plays netted minus-7 yards.

"That swung the momentum in our favor a little bit," Cathcart said. "If we don’t have that, we’re probably reeling a little more. That was a huge play."

Lebanon had a big advantage of time of possession in the second half, holding on to the ball for 16:09, and after Thibault's run, the Raiders answered with another long touchdown drive. Again, Lebanon went 55 yards, this time on seven plays, getting a 2-yard touchdown run from Philip Mellish.

But after both offenses had moved the ball for most of the first three quarters, the defenses took over late. All three punts in the game came on the next three possessions after Mellish's touchdown, the last of which was a 4-yard kick by Thibault that set the Raiders up at their own 48-yard line.

Lebanon converted a third and a fourth down on the drive, setting up a third-and-3 at the Trinity 15-yard line, but a false start moved the Raiders back.

After an incompletion on third down, Lebanon appeared to overcome the penalty when Jon Willeman found Cole Ames for a 19-yard completion to the Trinity 2\. But a holding call on the Raiders moved the ball back to the 38, and on fourth-and-26, Willeman was sacked by Thibault for an 8-yard loss.

The Pioneers were unable to pick up a first down and Lebanon got the ball back, but on the Raiders second play, Willeman was picked off by Peter Alisandro - his second of the game - to end the threat.

The win avenged Trinity's only loss of the season, a 21-7 setback against Lebanon in the second week of the season, and the Pioneers made the necessary adjustments from that first contest.

"We changed some blocking schemes and on defense, we didn’t play man, we played zone," Thibault said. "There were a few things we changed and we really liked the game plan coach set up for us. Over the season, we’ve just improved in every way possible. We came together as a family."