BLESSED TRINITY 21, CEDAR GROVE 14

But it was his running that set up the winning score in the third quarter, carrying the ball six times for 46 yards on an 8-play, 65-yard drive that finished with Chad Manthey cleaning up the final 4 yards for the score.

They were not massive running lanes that Shelton was hitting, but he kept finding what yards he could, and the clock kept churning as he did.

“We just had to fight through it,” Shelton said. “It was hard to get through the hole, but every time we did, we would get 3 yards, 4 yards. It was just amazing.”

For the Titans (7-3, 5-1), the game plan was simple — run it as many times as Cedar Grove would allow, and keep the Saints’ offense standing on the sideline.

“We felt like we needed to run the clock and make first downs because it’s really hard for us to run with them when they’re on offense,” Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin said. “That’s what we do.”

What Cedar Grove (6-4, 3-3) did was turn the ball over three times — all in Blessed Trinity territory — to kill multiple promising drives.

When the Saints maintained control of the ball, they moved it reasonably well, amassing nearly 350 yards of offense, with both a 100-yard rusher (Deion Sellers) and a 100-yard receiver (Brandon Norwood).

But Norwood got 116 of his 118 yards in the first half, as he caught eight passes and scored on a 57-yard toss. McFarlin said his team adjusted some coverages and made an effort to put more pressure on the quarterback in the second half, and it showed.

Cedar Grove quarterback James Hartsfield was 12-for-14 for 135 yards and a touchdown in the first half, then 6-of-10 for 55 yards in the second.

It’s the second region title in school history for Blessed Trinity and the first since 2005, when the Titans started 1-4 but won their final five games to take Region 5-AAA.