At the traditional postgame handshake, long-time coaching friends John Weaver and David King wished each other luck after Friday’s 47-7 win by Trinity over Porters Chapel.

King told Weaver that his PCA team had his Saints on the ropes for much of the first half. It’s just a shame that the Eagles (2-3) let the Saints (5-0) off the ropes to later land a knockout blow.

Now PCA will have to regroup — again — following its third consecutive loss.

Weaver is glad that the three-game stretch of playing some of the best teams the MAIS has to offer is finally over. He hoped for the Eagles to win at least one of those games, but he feels the experience was a good one for his team moving forward.

“We’re 2-3, we played three tough teams, but I’m really confident our guys are going to bounce back,” Weaver said.

The biggest issue for the Eagles was an inability to move the ball. Or, when they did, they couldn’t capitalize. Three of their turnovers killed scoring drives in Trinity territory.

After their first turnover, a fumble, set up Trinity with a short field to take a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, the Eagles marched down the field with short, underneath passes and strong running by Jake Boyd. But the Eagles let two chances slip away. Quarterback Jonah Masterson threw a pick at the Trinity 5 and the Eagles recovered a fumble on the return. But another interception took away the second chance at the Trinity 23.

Boyd had 125 yards of total offense, divided between two catches for 45 yards and 80 yards rushing in place of Montana McDaniel at running back.

McDaniel suffered a separated shoulder and Weaver said his injury is a minor one. He’ll likely miss this week’s game against Prentiss, but should return in time to face division foe Russell Christian next week. In addiion to Boyd, Peter Harris and freshman Chris Williams will see time in the backfield this week against Prentiss Christian.

Williams has impressed on the scout team and Weaver told him after the Trinity loss he’d be “pulling the redshirt” off of him.

“Jake’s come a long way for us,” Weaver said. “He’s going to get the nod for us at running back Friday. We’ve got three or four guys who can tote the load for us. And that’s a good problem to have.”