TRINITY – With the exception of one play, Trinity overcame its lack of a running game and put on a rare aerial show Friday night.

That one play made all the difference.

Asheboro’s Nick Chavis stepped in front of a Rhyne Kivett pass and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown to rally the visiting Blue Comets to a 20-15 win over the Bulldogs. To that point Kivett had toasted the Comets’ secondary for 144 yards and a touchdown. His favorite target, Ryan Spencer, caught eight passes for 117 yards.

But the one time Kivett couldn’t quite find Spencer in the right flat turned the game around. “I was anticipating the hitch, because that’s what they had been trying to get past us all night,” Chavis said.

But they didn’t get it past him that time, and he knew what to do with the ball when he got it. “I was looking for the touchdown, because my team’s been losing lately.”

From the onset, it looked like the Comets (2-3) would dominate. Dmitri Faglier capped off a 68-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and Asheboro led 6-0. On their next possession, Walter Rush found Josh Waddell for a 23-yard touchdown pass, and Damien Ewing made it 14-0 with the conversion run.

But Trinity battled back. Kivett threw a perfect fade route to Spencer from 12 yards out early in the second quarter to cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 14-6. Moments later, with Asheboro forced to punt deep in its own territory, the snap sailed way over punter Brandon Burr’s head to set up Trinity at the 3. Sklyer Srishord took advantage, scoring on the next play to make it 14-12.

Ron Griffin put Trinity in front for the first time with a 36-yard field goal late in the third, and the Bulldogs were driving on their next possession when Chavis came up with the play of the night.

Asheboro held Trinity to just 67 yards on the ground, while Faglier ran for 99 yards on 22 carries. The Bulldogs visit Southern Guilford next week.

Scoring summary

Asheboro 14 0 0 6 — 20

Trinity 0 12 3 0 — 15

A – Faglier 1 run (kick failed), 6:12, 1st

A – Waddell 23 pass from Rush (Ewing run), 2:19, 1st

T – Spencer 12 pass from Kivett (run failed), 9:58, 2nd

T – Srishord 3 run (pass failed), 6:08, 2nd

T – Griffin 36 FG, 2:48, 3rd

A – Chavis 73 interception return (conversion failed), 9:11, 4th