When Carol City hoisted their last state championship trophy in 2016, it was the fifth championship earned in the school’s rich football history. Since then, the Chiefs have attempted to return to Florida’s ultimate summit, but without success. In the last two years, Carol City has navigated winning regular seasons, but have come up short in the playoffs. In 2017, Carol City went 6-4 in the regular season advancing to the playoffs, where they fell to Miami Northwestern in the state regional finals. In 2018, an 8-2 Chiefs team advanced to the regional semifinals where they were upset by Miami Central.
Similar to Carol City, Trinity Christian has a rich football history, one that saw them hoist their seventh state championship trophy in 2016. Since then, the Conquerors have also experienced regular season success, ending in playoff heart break. In 2017, Trinity finished the regular season 7-3 yet fell to West Florida in the regional finals. 2018 saw an even better Trinity team go 10-0 in the regular season, but fall in the state semifinals to North Marion.
Both Carol City and Trinity have similar stories the last two years. Promising teams that ended in disappointing seasons. Yet to achieve a combined 12 state championships, one must understand the road to success. Trinity and Carol City have traveled that primrose path and it is one that other teams refuse to travel. Each year, the programs schedule some of the toughest teams in Florida. In fact, an arduous schedule would be a nice way of describing Carol City and Trinity’s paths.
This year Carol City has already faced Northwestern, Chaminade-Madonna, Miami Central, and still have St. Thomas Aquinas to play. Trinity you ask, oh they’ve just played Columbia, Venice, American Heritage with Booker T. Washington (Miami) still to play on the schedule. One might ask why the teams would schedule some of the toughest competition in the state? Especially after Trinity’s 31-17 defeat at the hands of American Heritage last week. Three reasons come to mind… Pride, Performance, and Points.
Carol City has one of the most prideful programs in the state. Alumni travel to see the team, and dawn their letter-man jackets long after high school. The Chiefs pride will always see them face Miami rivals such as Northwestern and Central. Even though this year they have lost to both (10-0, and 49-26) respectively.
The same would be said of Trinity, however the team finds itself in a different category as a private school. There are no long standing traditional match-ups for the Conquerors, however they have always taken pride in scheduling the best teams around. A Trinity versus Columbia rivalry seems to be a yearly thing of late. The Conquerors certainly don’t shy away from tough competition.
Playing against the best produces the best from your team, and one of the reasons both teams have achieved success is due to their elite competition. Chiefs freshman quarterback Keyone Jenkins and Conqueror’s junior quarterback JaCory Jordan are talented young players who will gain lots of experience from the vaunted defenses they face.
Carol City’s Katravis Geter (several SEC offers) , and Trinity’s Keyjuan Herndon (Ole Miss Commit) will attempt to best the other on the ground. Carol City wide receiver Thaiu Jones-Bell (Alabama Commit) and Trinity’s defensive back Fred Davis (Clemson Commit) just might provide a preview of future collegiate national championship battles between the two.
Finally there’s the points. It’s a win-win situation to schedule hard teams due to the FHSAA points system instituted two years ago. Each opponent you schedule generates points in the state’s power rankings which determines your playoff selection or seeding. It’s the reason Carol City (2-2) and Trinity (1-3) will more than likely still make the playoffs even though they may have less regular season wins than other teams.
At the end of the day, it’s about great match-ups, and once again we’re treated to a great one Friday night between Carol City and Trinity Christian. Their paths have brought them on a collision course, now lets see who plays chicken on the road to the championship.
