NATCHEZ &045; It’s time to stop all that anticipation of what’s going to happen this season with Trinity Episcopal moving up a class and Adams Christian coming down.

Football practices in the MPSA begin Monday.

It may be hot enough to turn practice fields into giant skillets, but football begins today at Adams Christian, Huntington, WCCA and Tensas Academy as the first prep football teams in the Miss-Lou to begin the 2004 season. Trinity Episcopal will crank it up on Wednesday, and the public schools will start in the following weeks.

It’s the start of the unknown for both AC and Trinity. The Rebels will start two-a-day workouts today with sessions starting at 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

&uot;I think it’s a big unknown,&uot; AC head coach Keith Walters said. &uot;We hope to have a good team, and everybody else does. We did go down to double-A, but I’ve coached double-A before. You’ve got to understand it’s very competitive. It’s a good league. But our guys will step up &045; I don’t have any doubt about that.&uot;

On the other side of town are the Trinity Episcopal Saints, who will move up to AA after three highly successful campaigns in Class A. Making matters even tougher for the Saints will be the loss of one of the best senior classes in school history, forcing to team to be in a rebuilding stage while facing probably the toughest schedule in school history.

And they’ll be doing it with Class A-type numbers with 16 players suited up, down from the 24 from a season ago when the Saints won the South State championship.

&uot;We’ll be the underdogs in all 11 games,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;That’s just part of it. We had a good run at it. I’ve talked to most people on our schedule, and everybody in our district will dress out at least 35. We knew things were going to be tough this year.&uot;

MPSA rules call for players to be in helmets only Monday and Tuesday unless for sled work, and coaches can have them dress out in shoulder pads starting Thursday. Saturday is the first day for players to suit up in full gear.

The Rebels will work about 90 minutes in the morning and two hours in the evening session.

&uot;It should be a little warm,&uot; Walters joked. &uot;It’s real hot out there right now. It’ll be a real intense thing. We do two-a-days because it’s a mental thing. You’ve got to pull through it.&uot;

The Rebels will also start this week on replacing the vacancies on both sides of the ball, particularly key cog Luke Ogden from a year ago. The quarterback situation can still rotate with Dustin Case and Timmy Foster, but the team may rely on Cole Bradford to become the man at running back.

But it goes deeper than just becoming a new starter. Ogden was as much a part of last year’s team as anyone else.

&uot;That’s the other unknown,&uot; Walters said. &uot;Ogden has about 3,500 yards, and he’s not there any more. It’s going to be an adjustment. If it was third and 3, everybody in the world knew Ogden would get it. We’re real thin at the skill positions, but we’ve got Cole coming back. I think Cole has worked hard, and he’s good to go.&uot;

At Trinity, it’s time to virtually start over as far as starters on both sides of the ball.

The Saints return one starter on offense and two on defense. Senior Zack Rogel will step in and play quarterback, and Stevan Ridley will likely get the bulk of the carries out of the backfield.

Outside of that, things will start heating up for spots this week at Trinity.

&uot;The bottom line is this league is by far the toughest in MPSA,&uot; King said. &uot;Five of the schools in this district have won a state championship since 1995. But we’ve got some guys who have been working extremely hard in the weight room. I’m going to look forward to coaching this group.

&uot;Zack is a hard, hard worker. He’s a tough kid, and he’s been waiting in the wings the last couple of years. He’s put in his time.&uot;

Across the river, Huntington will start at 8 this morning and go until noon under new head coach Bo Swilley and a new staff that includes former Adams Christian standout Tim Baker.

It’s the first time for Swilley to be in this position as head coach since he left in 2000 while coaching at AC.

&uot;I just was not happy away from kids,&uot; said Swilley, who was in private business before joining Huntington last year as an assistant. &uot;Our headmaster is super, and I’ve enjoyed hiring staff I’m familiar with. I’m glad to be back in it, and I’m ready to have a good time.&uot;

At WCCA, the Rams will continue their three-a-day workouts as they’ve done in seasons past under head coach Paul Hayles. They will have three small sessions during the day with defense in the morning, special teams in the afternoon and offense in the evening and switch to two-a-days next week up until the start of school.

Everything will kick off at 8 a.m. as the Rams start the process of rebuilding following the departure of 13 seniors in 2003.

&uot;We’ll play a number of teams who will have more seniors than we have football players,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;We hope the young guys will be able to step up and be a factor for us. We just came off an undefeated junior high season. They know how to win. They’ve got to step in and do it. When you’re playing 14- and 15-year-old kids against 18- and 19-year-olds kids, it’s tough.&uot;