The Haka, or to put it more appropriately, the Sipi Tau has been a staple and reference to the culture at Euless Trinity for some time. The Sipi Tau that is performed by the Euless Trinity Trojans is a cultural tradition that references the history of the Asian Pacific through a modern day variation of Polynesian War dances.
The Sipi Tau performed on Friday nights symbolizes the pride early warriors had in the Tongan culture that evoked strength, pride and a sense of culture all the while being used to intimidate and challenge the opponents to battle.
With the proverbial playoff door beginning to close on their playoff chances, Trinity performed their Sipi Tau in Pennington Field to summon their winning traditions and handily beat L.D. Bell 56-7 to avert the course of their season following two district losses.
On the opening drive Trinity would march down the field and score on an 8-yard run from running back Courage Keihn to score first at the 4:52 mark. The Trojan defense would pitch a shutout in the first quarter and the Trojans would score once more in the first following a hookup between wide receiver Charles Carpenter and quarterback Malini Maile to bring the score 14-0.
L.D. Bell would rapidly switch the momentum of the game as Trinity fumbled on offense and L.D. Bell linebacker Derek Thomas recovered the fumble and took it to the end zone for the Raiders’ first score.
The 14-7 score would be the closest one L.D. Bell would see the rest of the night. The Trojans would be relentless the rest of the night and dominate the Raiders. Malini Maile would throw two more scores before the half, one to Charles Carpenter and another to Lloyd Hill Jr. to help Trinity possess a 28-7 lead at the half.
Trinity would go on to double that score off the strength of their ground game. Courage Keihn, Ja’Lon Wilson and Simeon Ellsworth would have touchdown runs of 4-yards, 5-yards and 58-yards respectively, while Maile would toss one more touchdown pass to Charles Carpenter before the night was over.
The Trojans accumulated 607 total yards on offense with 465 of those yards coming from the run game. Courage Keihn would lead all rushers with 161 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Charles Carpenter ended up with the three receptions for 51 yards and three touchdowns. Maile would end up tossing four touchdown passes for 130 yards as the Trojans evened their district record at 2-2.
The win now has Trinity in fifth place in the District 5-6A standings however Trinity will face three of the four teams currently ahead of them. Trinity will face Hebron next, followed by Flower Mound and Marcus. Trinity can beat these opponents but they have no room for error with three games left in the season.
Southlake Carroll holds onto first place and will likely finish in that position so Trinity will have to come together as one and show strength, pride and unity just as the Sipi Tau does the rest of the season in order to try and capture the end goals they accomplished in 2005, 2007 and 2009.
