Vikings suffer rare conference loss at home

Berry falls to Trinity in SAA opener

The Berry college football team lost a Southern Athletic Association showdown Saturday night at Valhalla Stadium, when SAA preseason favorite Trinity University handed the Vikings a 27-6 defeat.

The setback, the SAA opener for both teams and evens the Vikings’ overall record to 2-2, was only the second time Berry has lost a conference regular season game at Valhalla Stadium.

In the first quarter on their first drive the Trinity Tigers scored, setting the mood for the rest of the night. Quarterback Tucker Horn made an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Austin Bertness. The Vikings failed to convert a first down in the first quarter, the Tigers held Berry to six rushing yards and only eight receiving yards.

Going into the second quarter Trinity struck quickly again with another touchdown pass from Horn to wide receiver Chris Stewart for 6 yards. Towards the end of the half, Horn was intercepted by Kris Thomas at the Berry 2-yard line. But the Vikings failed to take advantage of any momentum that may have swung their way.

With 35 seconds left to play in the second half, Berry went up-tempo with their offense and capitalized with a 32-yard field goal by Matthew Syverson as time expired in the first half to trim Trinity’s lead 14-3.

After a slow start to the second half for both teams, the Vikings tacked on three more points with a 36-yard field goal by Syverson with 7:23 left in the third quarter.

Trinity quickly gained momentum back from the Vikings with a running touchdown by running back

Winston Hutchinson from a yard out, with 3:07 left in the third quarter to end a 10-play, 72-yard drive.

Going into the final quarter, Trinity continued to win at the line of scrimmage and put pressure on the quarterbacks. After the Tigers picked off a Berry pass, Winston Hutchinson ran for his second touchdown of the night, with a five yard run to close out the scoring.

The Vikings were held to just 181 yards in total offense with only 31 yards via the run, while Trinity ended the night amassing 357 yards.

Berry quarterback Gavin Gray completed 11 of 21 passes for 129 yards.

Connor Cheyunski paced the Berry defense with 9.5 tackles, while Jake Seeger registered a sack and Kristofer Thomas had an interception.

Berry, now 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the SAA takes on conference opponent Millsaps College next Saturday in Jackson, Miss.