Trinity football claims 27th state title with shutout victory over Male

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Trinity High School football team won its 27th state title and 15th under head coach Bob Beatty with a 28-0 victory over Male High School in the 6A championship on Saturday at Kroger Field in Lexington.

The Shamrocks, who defeated the Bulldogs 43-14 in the regular season, were led offensively by senior Brad West, who ran for three touchdowns and 103 yards in the win.

"Since we started the playoffs, Coach Beatty's emphasized every game that we need to be physical in the run game," West said after the victory. "We need to establish the run early on, and I feel like tonight our offensive line came out, you known, those first two, three drives and they were being really physical."

Notching a third straight shutout, Trinity's defense held Male to just five first downs on 141 total yards (111 passing, 30 rushing) and recovered a fumble in the second half that set up a touchdown. The Bulldogs converted just one of their 10 third-down tries.

The Shamrocks struck first when senior quarterback Nathan McElroy connected with senior receiver Collin Book for a 44-yard touchdown early in the first quarter. McElroy completed 9 of his 16 pass attempts for 147 yards on the evening.

West scored his first touchdown from 4 yards out with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter to give Trinity a 14-0 lead, which would hold until halftime. The senior added 10- and 6-yard scores in the second half and averaged 5.1 yards per carry.

Claiming the 6A state title capped off an undefeated season for Trinity, which outscored its opponents 429-48 over 10 games.

"It's very special to be a part of a group where all three phases of your game and all of our guys believe in all three of those phases," Beatty said. "That makes this year pretty special (and) gives you more of a team atmosphere. ... Just a real pleasing feeling to go out knowing that all three phases of your game were in sync."

Male ends its season with an 8-2 record, both losses coming at the hands of the Shamrocks.