photo by Marcus Frazier

Trinity’s Clint Easom (2) carries the ball down the field in the midst of Centreville Academy’s Adam Perry (13) and Matthew Lee (25) Thursday evening. The Saints beat the Tigers 36-22 to finish the regular season with a perfect 11-0 record.

Trinity tops Centreville, finishes regular season 11-0

By Matt Burrowes | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, November 2, 2007

NATCHEZ — The battle between the Trinity Saints and the Centreville Tigers lived up to all the hype Thursday night.

Trinity pulled out a nail biting, 36-22 win to prove they belong among the elite in MPSA AA.

“All year we have heard about Centreville this and Centreville that,” Trinity receiver Clint Easom said. “We came out ready to play and proved how good we are.”

The Saints came out firing on their first drive, going 80 yards. The drive was capped off by a 1-yard Brandon Daggs run.

After forcing Trinity to punt, the Tigers rode the legs of running back Nick Goudeau to put their first points on the board but were unable to tie on a missed point after kick.

“We stacked everyone we could in the box to slow down their run game,” Trinity head coach David King said.

Both teams went on a scoring frenzy in the second quarter, tallying a total of 31 points.

Centreville’s defense pushed Trinity into a fourth and 38 and blocked the punt that went out of the end zone for a safety.

“We didn’t play well at the start,” Easom said. “But we were able to settle down and get going.”

The Tigers were able to put a drive together and Goudeau pushed the ball over the line to give Centreville a 15-7 lead.

“We thought we’d played as hard as we could, but evidently we didn’t,” Centreville head coach Bill Hurst said.

Trinity didn’t stay down long. Quarterback Parker Brumfield went four-of-five to tie the game on an 18-yard pass to Matthew Freeman.

“Parker performs every game,” King said. “This team believes in him and he believes in this team.”

Freeman put the Saints on top with a 38-yard interception return on the very next Centreville drive.

“Their quarterback (Kyle Brown) is excellent,” King said. “Our defense did an excellent job when we needed it most.”

Not to be outdone, the Tigers showed they had a passing game. Brown connected with Hunter Brabham on 22-yard pass to tie the game at 22 at the half.

After a scoreless third quarter, Brumfield put the Saints up for good with a 60-yard pass to running back R.J. Flemming.

“Their speed just killed us,” Hurst said. “We couldn’t do anything to offset it.”

Flemming added icing to the cake with a 34-yard rushing score with three minutes left to seal the win for the Saints.

With the win, the Saints move to 11-0.

“To be honest we didn’t expect this much success this year,” King said. “We knew we would be successful because of the type of kids we have. The seniors wanted it and the effort has been there all year.”

On the chance of seeing Centreville again in the playoffs, King said their eyes were on the bigger prize of being state champions.

The first round of playoffs start next Friday. Centreville will host 8-2 Central Private and Trinity will host 4-5 Bowling Green.

Kickoffs are set for 7 p.m.