Bryce Hayes
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Texas Lutheran earned its first victory over a top 25 opponent since 2019, taking a 35-20 win over #13 Trinity Saturday night in San Antonio.The top 25 win is the first under head coach Neal LaHue and the first win over Trinity since 2016 – a team offensive line coach Johnny Garcia was a member of. The victory snapped a ten game losing streak against top 25 opponents, with the last win coming against No. 6 Hardin-Simmons on Oct. 5, 2019.
Quarterback Caden Bosanko (San Antonio/East Central) finished 21-of-31 for 240 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed ten times for a team-high 19 yards. Caleb Camarillo (San Antonio/Southside) hauled in three passes for 67 yards and a touchdown while Cayleb Klostermann (Lyford/Lyford) caught two passes for 51 yards.
After a pair of possessions that ended in punts, the Bulldogs got on the board via a blocked punt by linebacker Tristan Smith (New Braunfels/Canyon) who would scoop and score for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.
After a forced fumble by Kaleb Hamilton (New Orleans, LA/Round Rock (TX)), the Bulldogs offense would double their lead to 14-0 following a one-yard rushing touchdown from Nehemiah Murry (Luling/Luling).
Trinity would respond with a touchdown of their own to cut the Bulldogs lead in half with just over five minutes left in the half.
Texas Lutheran would drive 75 yards in just over two minutes of action capped off by a 13-yard receiving touchdown from Cole Andrus (Jourdanton/Jourdanton), carrying a 21-7 lead into the half.
The Bulldogs would be held scoreless in the third but the Bulldogs defense would bend but not break throughout the period – limiting the Tigers to two field goals as the Bulldogs lead was trimmed to 21-13 entering the fourth quarter.
A 28-yard passing touchdown to Caleb Camarillo made it a two score game. Back-to-back Trinity possessions would come to an end thanks to TLU defensive back Troy Tomaselli (San Antonio/Cornerstone Christian) forcing a fumble before corralling an interception with 4:57 remaining in the game.
TLU running back Weston Guzman (McAllen/McAllen) would score the final touchdown of the game for TLU to put the game away, a two-yard rush to give TLU a 35-13 lead with 2:32 remaining.
The Texas Lutheran defense was impressive as a whole Saturday night – limiting a Trinity offense that outscored its opponents 481-170 last season to just 20 points while forcing three turnovers. The 20 points are the fewest points scored by the Tigers in a loss since 2022 against Mary Hardin-Baylor. The loss is just the fifth in the last four years for the Tigers and only the second in the regular season. Trinity, who averaged 461.3 yards per game in 2023 was held to 287 yards by the TLU defense on Saturday.
The TLU defense was led by linebacker Diego Avila (Allen/Allen) with ten tackles (two solo) and a pass break up. Troy Tomaselli finished with eight tackles, a forced fumble, an interception and a pass break up. Tyler Ward (Woodway/Bishop Louis Reicher) finished with a team-high two sacks to go along with six total tackles.
Texas Lutheran returns to Bulldog Stadium next Saturday, as the Bulldogs host Centenary College on Sept. 14 in the 2024 home opener. Kickoff against the Gents is set for 6 PM and the game will be streamed on TLU+ along with KWED 1580 AM. All streaming and stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com. Season ticket information is available here.
For more information on Texas Lutheran football, follow the Bulldogs on X (Twitter) and Instagram (@TLU_Football) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter,) @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).