BROOKHAVEN — Brookhaven Academy may have set records with its 22-game winning streak, but Trinity Episcopal will go down in history for breaking it.

Friday night’s epic battle between Trinity Episcopal and Brookhaven Academy, two of the premier private school teams in the state, certainly lived up to its billing.

It was the top-ranked and defending state champion in MAIS Class A against the top-ranked defending state champion in Class AA. Both teams that went into this game undefeated so far in 2010.

And when Tip McKenzie returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown with 6:16 remaining in the fourth quarter after Tyler Trout’s game-tying 22-yard field goal just nine seconds earlier, the streak was indeed over as Trinity Episcopal defeated Brookhaven Academy 34-28 at R.M. “Red” Stuard Field.

“It was just two big-time teams getting after it. We made one or two more plays than they did,” Trinity head coach David King said. “It was a great ball game. One of the best I’ve ever been a part of.”

The Saints got off to a good start, and they had to if they were going to knock off the Cougars on their home field.

On the game’s very first play from scrimmage, Givonni Dent hooked up with Tip McKenzie on a 68-yard pass and catch and Zach Marshall added the extra point and just 14 seconds into the game Trinity (8-0) was up 7-0.

Dent was more than up for the challenge as he completed 14 of 24 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns. McKenzie caught three passes for 128 yards.

Kent King scored on a 2-yard run. Marshall converted the point-after and with 4:52 to go in the first quarter, the Saints were leading 14-0 and Cougar fans had to wonder what was going on.

King ended up with 181 yards from scrimmage. He led the Saints’ ground game with 14 carries for 88 yards and he caught seven passes for 93 yards.

However, Brookhaven Academy isn’t the top team in Class AA for nothing. And the Cougars have one of the state’s top quarterbacks in Chandler Rogers, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 294 yards. He got them back in the game with his 21-yard touchdown pass to Jennings Mills with just 55 seconds left until halftime and the two connected on the two-point conversion pass to make it a 14-8 ball game at the half.

Rogers helped give the home team the lead with his 3-yard touchdown run with 8:14 remaining in what turned out to be a wild third quarter. Tyler Trout added the extra point to give the Cougars a 15-14 lead.

The Dent-to-McKenzie duo was back at it for the Saints as they connected on a 51-yard touchdown pass with 4:43 left in the quarter. Marshall’s extra point gave them a 21-15 lead.

“So many big plays. So many turning points. We’ve got some play makers and they made some plays. It was all it as advertised to be,” King said.

Yet the Cougars would respond with 10 straight points. Trout made a 24-yard field goal with 4:05 left and Rogers threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Christian Keene at the 2:35 mark to give them a 25-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But on this night, it was the Saints’ defense that stepped up in the final 12 minutes and not only kept Brookhaven Academy (7-1) out of the end zone, but limited them to just the field goal by Trout midway through the quarter.

“The defense made a couple of big stops in the fourth quarter, and really stood up to the challenge. Our defense was outstanding,” King said.

Dent threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to King with 10:01 remaining that gave Trinity a 28-25 lead.

Trinity Episcopal hosts Baton Rouge Home School Prep at 7 p.m. next Friday.