From the start, you could tell it was just their day. You see, true champions always have sort of an air about them.

And, try as they might, the mighty Wayne Academy Jaguars could do nothing about it.

But even though many casual observers may look back at this classic title tilt and call Chad Ridley the hero for the Trinity Episcopal Saints, I’ll have to disagree with that one just a tad.

Don’t get me wrong, Ridley was everything both I and everyone else have said about him this season. He’s special, a smart heady player.

But Saturday, to pardon the clich, it took a total team effort. This Saints team was on a mission and that was painfully evident to a Jags team that was gunning for their third title in four years. The line of scrimmage, pure and simple, was dictated by the Saints.

Names like Kayne Troutman, Chase Brown and Walt Ketchings may not be on the marquee, but they certainly kept the run to the trophy fueled with plenty of big bulling runs, interceptions and just general relentlessness on defense.

Troutman said it felt sweet to come away a champion after coming up short twice in basketball.

They are the anchors of tomorrow for a squad that return eight starters both ways.

“As we’ve said all along, those guys are quarterbacks for our defense,” assistant coach Barr Brown said. “They have come up with big plays all year long and they did it again today.”

It was a long road that started in the summer heat and culminated on a sunny December day.

“We did just enough, like we did since July 15th on those hills,” head coach David King said, reminiscing about two-a-days that involved grueling workouts where the Saint players had to run up and down the hill beside their home field.

“We ran that about 30 times or so, and the ones that make it stay, and those that don’t get in the band or somewhere else.”

Saturday, you could tell that conditioning had paid off, especially in the closing moments when the defense was at work, salting yet another victory – the most important of all – away.

It was at this point the realization hits. The 14-7 triumph, was not only good for Trinity Episcopal School, but for the City of Natchez as well.

This town desperately needed a good old dose of football nirvana, after suffering for so long without virtually anything, gridiron-wise to hang their hats on. Cathedral’s runner-up run in ’93, being the last medication for Natchez fans.

The support in the stands was a sight to behold, and Trinity has needed that and more all year.

“This was great for Natchez,” Brown said, pointing into the stands at the sheer wall of frenzied, rabid spectators. “We really needed this, and this win puts this program here back on the map.”

It was the second title in four tries for the school, who lost in the title game in 1975 and ’77, but surely there were some of those alumni in attendance and listening on the radio that savored this every bit as much as current students and players.

“We were up against a team with better coaching and better tradition, but our players wanted it more,” King said. “The bottom line is players win these ballgames, and I just get to sit over here and enjoy it.”

Afterward, the group huddled around an elevated championship trophy as the flashbulbs popped at every turn, with a teary-eyed head of school Delecia S. Carey watching over the entire episode.

“We finally proved ourselves,” Ridley said. “We always knew we were champs, and today we showed it to everyone.”

Then after they did that, they had themselves immortalized with a team picture.

All-in-all, it was a surreal moment, that no one in attendance will ever forget.

We don’t want them to, either.

Richard Dark is a sportswriter for The Democrat. He can be reached at (601) 445-3633 or by e-mail at richard.dark@natchezdemocrat.com.