Two of Texas’ top independent 11-man football teams – Cedar Hill Trinity Christian and San Antonio Cornerstone Christian -- won on a pair of different stages in Week 1, setting up a Week 2 showdown Friday night in San Antonio.

The Tigers of Trinity Christian made their second straight trip outside of the Lone Star state a successful one with a 49-14 rout of Knoxville (Tennessee) Catholic on Saturday that was viewed by a national audience on ESPN.

Quarterback Shadeur Sanders outdueled junior Kaden Martin, the son of former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Tee Martin, and led the Tigers with 378 yards on 24 of 38 passing with three touchdowns.  The Florida Atlantic commit added two more on the ground.

Trinity Christian raced out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter, but Knoxville Catholic tied it up 14-all with 6:22 to go in the first half when Martin found Sam O’Leary behind the Tigers defense at the 10-yard line where he ran it in to cap off the 40-yard play that was setup by a defensive face mask.

In fact, defensive penalties by Trinity Christian on two consecutive fourth downs setup Knoxville Catholic’s first score of the second quarter.

Meanwhile in Corpus Christi Friday night, the Warriors of San Antonio Cornerstone Christian was forced to step up on an emotional stage after Corpus Christi Calallen kicker Gabe Cooley died on Sunday from injuries sustained after being stabbed multiple times earlier that day at a Corpus Christi-area Wal-Mart.

While Calallen’s captains carried Cooley’s jersey and a flag with “GC 80” onto the field, the Warriors carried their own #80 jersey and presented head coach and athletic director Phil Danaher with a commemorative football before the start of the contest.

On the field, Arkansas quarterback commit Lucas Coley led Cornerstone Christian to a 24-20 win by rushing for 201 yards and two touchdowns and passing for another 142 yards and one score.

After Sebastian Alvarado connected on a 24-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the first half to give the Warriors an early 10-6 lead, the lead changed hands three times before Coley connected with Jayden Gardner on a 60-yard catch-and-run, breaking one tackle at the Calallen 40, to give Cornerstone its 24-20 advantage it would maintain through the fourth quarter.

In other 11-man action, three nationally-ranked homeschool teams picked up week one wins.

Second-ranked Cedar Hill DasCHE Spartans put up 35 first half points on Malakoff Cross Roads en route to picking up a 41-12 road win Friday night.

Tomball Christian Homeschool on Tuesday found itself without a week one opponent when Lewisville Founders Classical Academy cancelled over the high number of COVID-19 cases in the greater Houston area, even though Warriors head coach Chris Criswell said in an e-mail to LSCSN that it offered to travel to Lewisville instead.

When Iola ISD announced on Thursday it had positive COVID-19 cases in the high school forcing the Bulldogs to cancel their first two games against Thrall and Normangee, the Warriors agreed to travel and face Thrall on Saturday night.

The sixth-ranked Warriors got three touchdowns passing from junior quarterback Noah Rose on 6 of 10 passing for 187 yards to key the 26-8 win over the Tigers.  Sophomore Silas Shivers led the running attack with 107 yards on 13 carries and a score.  Senior Joey Abrams caught two of Rose’s passes for touchdowns.

While the eighth-ranked Nike Dallas FC, the rebranded Dallas Home School Athletic Association, avenged last year’s double-overtime, season opening loss to the Oklahoma City Patriots, 39-12.

Newman International Academy of Cedar Hill, the Texas Christian Athletic Fellowship (TCAF) defending 11-man state champion, routed UIL 3A Dallas Gateway Charter 68-12.

Sixteen (16) six-man contests took place in week one involving 25 non-TAPPS members.

Three of the six non-TAPPS defending champions opened their seasons and only one – Bastrop Tribe Consolidated, ranked by sixmanfootball.com’s as the 14th best among all Texas teams – came away with a win.

The two-time defending TAIAO Division I champion got 243 yards on 17 carries and five touchdowns from Samuel Osborn as Tribe won 46-0 over the Brazos Valley Mustangs (BVCHEA) in a game called at halftime by the mercy rule at Allen Academy’s Baker Field. 

Quarterback Chandler Golemon added a 31 yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Knippa to round out the Warriors’ scoring in the win.

Burnet Smoking for Jesus Christian Ministry avenged its 82-51 loss in the Texas Christian Athletic League Division II championship from last year to Sherman Grayson Christian with a sound 65-19 home win.

Quarterback Isaac Legier carried the Eagles to victory with 297 yards on 14 of 26 passing and six touchdowns, including two touchdowns each to Charles Frazier, Jr. and Auther Eaglin III.

Marvin Glaspie III shined with a pair of kickoff returns for touchdowns of 46 and 50 yards as well as long touchdown reception for Legier.

The last two Texas Association of Independent Athletic Organizations Division II champions tangled in Victoria on Saturday afternoon after the Fort Bend Chargers – the 2018 titlist – took the venom out of the Victoria Homeschool Cobras, last year’s champion, with a 68-58 win on the road.

The top-ranked team in TCAF, Azle Christian School, runners-up in 2017 and 2018, opened with a decisive 66-30 home win over Waco Parkview Christian.

The Pacers kept it close in the first half - trailing by just six (36-30) going into half time – before Azle reeled off 30 unanswered points for the win.

Azle Christian quarterbacks – senior Gabriel Ellis and junior Chandler Boling – split the signal calling duties and combined for 294 yards on 14 of 21 passing and seven touchdowns.

Ellis, who threw for five of the seven, caught Boling’s two as part of a seven reception, 114-yard performance.  Parkview senior quarterback Jasper Watson countered with 254 yards passing on the strength of a 12 for 20 showing and three scoring throws.

Pacers senior running back CJ Lanehart led all rushers with 116 yards on 16 carries.

High point honors were earned by the Austin Royals in their 71-26 mercy rule win over the Temple Centex Homeschool Chargers.

Perhaps week one’s top performance came in defeat as Mineral Wells Community Christian junior quarterback Jackson Horton combined for 470 yards total offense and all nine touchdowns for the Warriors in their 62-58 loss to Decatur Victory Christian Academy.

On the ground, Horton ran for 188 yards on 23 carries and four touchdowns while delivering the other five via the air to three different receivers as part of his 22-for-31 effort that tallied 282 yards passing.

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Jon Walk is a contributor to the Lone Star Christian Sports Network, one of the state's top sources for private school sports news and information. Check out LSCSN.com and the LSCSN Facebook page for more.