Madonna’s Lucky Pulice catches a Santino Arlia pass on fourth down and runs for a touchdown during Saturday’s contest against Morgantown Trinity. -Joe Catullo

WEIRTON — Thomas Sessi ran for two touchdowns and added another on a pass reception, as Madonna whipped Morgantown Trinity Christian, 44-12, Saturday night inside Jimmy Carey Stadium.

With the victory, the Blue Dons, who were playing their home opener, improved to 3-2. Due to West Virginia’s COVID protocols mapping system, Trinity was playing its first game of the season.

“It was good to finally play at home, and it was great to get a win,” said first-year Madonna coach Dan Rovira. “I just want to thank Trinity Christian. I am so glad their county got into yellow and were finally able to play. They have a nice team, and their kids played hard. Like all smaller schools, they have a problem with numbers, but those kids really fought.”

Sessi’s touchdown runs came from 1- and 3-yards away. The senior finished with 137 rushing yards on 23 trips. He hauled in a Santino Arlia pass for a 10-yard score.

Rovira has been waiting for his Blue Dons to get the running game going, and that finally happened Saturday. Madonna finished with 213 yards on the ground. Colton Littleton and Nico Connell also found their way to the end zone.

“Honestly, it feels great,” Rovira said when discussing the success of Madonna’s run game. “Our offensive line is starting to come together, and that showed tonight.

“We have to be balanced offensively. We are not going to be successful just throwing the ball. We have to run the ball. And, I think we have a pretty nice backfield with Seth (Humberson), Colton and Thomas. I wish we had a tight end, but that’s just the way it is.”

Madonna struck first when Arlia found Lucky Pulice for a 35-yard touchdown strike. Sessi then grabbed an Arlia pass for the 2-point conversion. Sessi’s first 6-pointer came following a Tyler Starvaggi fumble recovery. Arlia and Sessi again hooked up for the conversion. Both scores came on fourth down.

The Blue Don defense put some points on the board late in the second quarter when Pulice sacked Trinity quarterback Drew Boczek in the end zone for a safety. Madonna led, 18-0, at the intermission.

Early in the third, Madonna got the ball at the Trinity 3 following a bad snap on a punt. Sessi plowed over from there to make it 24-0. Sessi’s touchdown grab pushed the count to 32-0.

Senior running back Calvin Blunt, Jr. broke loose for an 81-yard touchdown sprint early in the fourth quarter. Littleton returned the ensuing kick 59 yards, then scored on a 3-yard run.

Boczek and Blunt connected for a 30-yard touchdown to close Trinity’s scoring. The game’s final points came on Connell’s 5-yard run.

Blunt carried the rock 12 times, compiling a game-high 156 yards. Boczek completed 11 passes for 114 yards. Blunt was on the receiving end of four.

“We were pretty impressed with what we did tonight and how resilient our kids were,” said first-year Trinity coach Christopher Simpson. “We’ve been off, and we didn’t have any scrimmages, so this really was our first time on the field. I am proud of the way our kids responded.

“Obviously at this point, you would like to be in midseason form, but we still have some bugs to work out. We will learn from this game and we will continue to move forward.”

Arlia had another solid outing for Madonna, completing 11 passes for 124 yards and the two scores. Pulice had six receptions for 77, while Sessi caught four.

“We’re happy with the 3-2 record at this point,” Rovira said. “We had to play Scott, and they were bigger than us, but we needed games.

“I want our kids to play 10 games, and I want our seniors to have a winning season. We still have some work to do, and we need to keep improving.”

UP NEXT

Madonna: CelebrateS homecoming when Hundred travels to Weirton on Saturday.

Madonna 44, Trinity Christian 12

Trinity 0 0 0 12 — 12

Madonna 8 10 14 12 — 44

M — Pulice 35 pass from Arlia (Sessi pass from Arlia)

M — Sessi 1 run (Sessi pass from Arlia)

M — Safety, Pulice sacked Trinity quarterback in end zone

M — Sessi 3 run (pass failed)

M — Sessi 10 pass from Arlia (Sessi run)

T — Blunt Jr. 81 run (pass failed)

M — Littleton 3 run (kick failed)

T — Blunt Jr. 30 pass from Boczek (run failed)

M — Connell 5 run (run failed)

RUSHING: Trinity 27-118-td (Blunt Jr. 12-156-td; Boczek 8-(-20); Teets 6-4; Team 1-(-22); Madonna 45-213-4tds (Sessi 23-137-2tds; Littleton 6-26-td; Gray 5-28; Connell 4-17-td; Humberson 4-4; Arlia 3-1).

PASSING: Trinity 11-26-114-td-int (all by Boczek); Madonna 11-24-124-2tds (all by Arlia).

RECEIVING: Trinity 11-114-td (Blunt Jr. 4-52-td; Steptoe 3-33; Lohmann 2-13; Teets 2-17); Madonna 11-124-2tds (Pulice 6-77-td; Sessi 4-42-td; Humberson 1-5).

FIRST DOWNS: Trinity 9; Madonna 17.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Trinity 9-70; Madonna 6-60.

PUNTS: Trinity 3-19; Madonna 3-23.

FUMBLES-LOST: Trinity 1-1; Madonna 3-2