CENTREVILLE — Trinity Episcopal senior quarterback Michael Whitley gave Centreville Academy’s defense problems not only with his arm, but with his legs.

Whitley threw for 167 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 74 yards with one touchdown as the Saints, ranked No. 2 in Class A, defeated the Tigers, ranked No. 2 in Class AA, 44-18 Friday night.

“Michael continues to get better at quarterback,” Loy said. “He made some big throws. He had some big runs. The thing I like about Michael,when he makes a mistake like the interception, he forgets about it.”

The Saints jumped out to a 22-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and served notice to the Tigers that they weren’t going to be the heavy underdogs most people expected them to be.

Whitley had touchdown passes of 3 yards to Quinton Logan and 15 yards to Jacob Sandrock and Demarcus Fleming scored on a 1-yard run. Trinity converted on two of its three two-point conversions in the opening quarter.

Trinity made it a 30-0 game nearly midway through the second quarter when Logan scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Whitley and the Saints added yet another two-point conversion.

Centreville finally got on the scoreboard with 4:49 to go in the second quarter on a 52-yard run by Ian Ball, but the two-point conversion run was no good and the Tigers trailed 30-6. The Saints scored with 31 seconds remaining until halftime when Whitley scored on a 5-yard run and ran in for two for a 38-6 halftime lead.

“Jacob Sandrock and Quinton Logan made some big plays for us. I thought we came out with a lot of intensity and a lot of heart,” Loy said. “We came out fast. We jumped out to a big lead. We executed our game plan, and we didn’t make many mistakes.”

Whitley completed 18 of 24 passes and ran the ball 12 times. Sandrock had six catches for 101 yards and Logan had five receptions for 30 yards. Fleming finished with 72 yards on 12 carries.

Trinity scored its final touchdown with 2:42 left in the third quarter on a 7-yard pass from Whitley to Logan. Centreville scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, first on a 7-yard run by John Marcus McDowell at the 11:15 mark and then on a 22-yard pass from Casey Haygood to Jordan Clark with 2:59 to go in the ball game.

“(Assistant) coach Hunter Ogden came out with a good scheme,” Loy said. “We tackled better tonight, but we still missed some tackles. Defensively, we saw some improvement from week one.”

Trinity’s defense keyed in on Haygood for much of the game. Haygood was just 8-for-19 passing with one interception and the one touchdown for 101 yards. Ball was the Tigers’ leading rusher and Colby Shaw had three catches for 50 yards.

Loy said he was pleased with his players after the big win against the rival Tigers.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my kids,” Loy said. “They bought in and believed in the plan and executed it tonight. Everyone on our team contributed to our win.”

Trinity Episcopal (2-0) has a home game at 7 p.m. next Friday against Central Private School. Centreville Academy (1-1) next plays at 7 p.m. next Friday at Adams County Christian School.