NATCHEZ &045; This time it will be for real.

Adams Christian and Trinity Episcopal will meet on the football field for the second straight season this fall, but the two teams will meet in the regular season in Week 2 in the MPSA football schedule released on Thursday.

The two schools met back in August in a jamboree at Bobby Marks Stadium at ACCS in the first meeting of the two Natchez schools since 1998. Now they’ll play in the regular season Aug. 27 at Trinity for the first time in the regular season in several years.

&uot;I think it’s great we’re playing,&uot; Adams Christian head coach Keith Walters said. &uot;We’re playing in all sports. It’s good for Natchez and good for the kids. One night we went to Greenville Washington, and they went to Shreveport. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.&uot;

The two teams submitted requests to play each other to the MPSA scheduling committee, the group that sets football schedules for every school in the association. Each school can submit up to three requests for games outside of their district schedule.

The two played each other in a jamboree last season at ACCS, a 15-12 win by the Rebels.

&uot;I’d imagine it’s because we’re both here in town,&uot; AC headmaster John Gray said. &uot;We asked for them. Most people don’t get what they ask for.&uot;

But the contest may be the second of two meetings between the schools, Walters said. Both schools will be among a couple of other teams scheduled to play in a jamboree at Trinity prior to the Week 1 Aug. 20 date.

But when the Saints look at the grand scheme of things, the second edition of the crosstown showdown pales in comparison to the remainder of the schedule.

&uot;We’re so overwhelmed with a conference schedule we haven’t even thought of the non-conference schedule,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;AC is just going to be a regular game. We’ve got so many good teams on that schedule &045; Centreville, Silliman and Oak Forest have each won a state championship in the last five years. Columbia was a playoff team last year.

&uot;AC and Central Hinds will be two of the top teams in that other (Class AA) district, and we play both of them.&uot;

The Adams Christian schedule also had to be tinkered with the decision by Chamberlain-Hunt to drop football. The Wildcats are members of District 3-AA with Adams Christian, but their withdrawal left a void in the schedule of everyone else in the district.

The Rebels have four district games but have open dates with Huntington, Oak Forest, WCCA and Brookhaven after the 3-AA portion of their schedule begins.

&uot;We had wanted to play Trinity and Parklane,&uot; Walters said. &uot;Where Oak Forest came from? I have no idea. Where Brookhaven came from? I have no idea. But that’s all well and good. We’re not going to go Jackson and play those school two or three times bigger than us.&uot;

The Rebels will open the season Aug. 19 with a Thursday home game against Centreville before playing Trinity and hosting Parklane on Sept. 3. The Rebels will finish the season out of the district against Brookhaven, a week where everyone will play a non-district opponent.

&uot;I would have thought they would give us Parklane,&uot; said Gray, a longtime coach at Brookhaven. &uot;But we got Brookhaven. Brookhaven didn’t want us. That’s just the way it (goes). We lost a conference game. I don’t know if it was Brookhaven in their place or Oak Forest. We hated to lose that game. Brookhaven is going to be good, and Oak Forest is always good.&uot;

Trinity, meanwhile, will face just two Class A opponents in its first season playing at the Class AA level. The Saints will be in District 4 and face Amite School Center Aug. 20 to open the season and travel to Tri-County Sept. 24.

They will square off against 4-AA opponents Oak Forest, Silliman, Centreville, Columbia, Bowling Green and Brookhaven while meeting Prairie View and Central Hinds in remaining non-district games.

&uot;We were very disappointed we didn’t get get our gate money we requested,&uot; King said. &uot;Huntington, WCCA and Tensas &045; we’ve played those schools since the 1970s, and we’ve never not played one of them. I’m not going to complain, but that’s awful, awful funny that we’re not going to be able to play our rival games. We’ll average about two hours on road trips instead of the 30 minutes we’re used to.&uot;

Huntington and the remainder of those in Class A will continue their 10-games schedules while the Hounds will venture into the new District 7-A. They will face district foes Briarfield, Franklin, River Oaks, Tallulah and Tensas and open the season at Grawood Aug. 20 and at home against Amite in Week 2.