Playoff time just can’t get here fast enough, and Wilkinson Christian is on the verge of a nice little milestone after Friday night’s win.

The Rams are not totally locked in, but their 41-0 win over Prentiss Christian clinched at least a three-way tie for first place in the four-team MPSA District 6-A as the playoff scenarios start to take shape with schools in the Miss-Lou.

There are no fireworks to set off just yet, but the Rams can claim a title Oct. 15 with a win over a struggling Amite School Center squad. A loss coupled with a Prentiss win over Union would create a three-way tie for the No. 1 spot, and then it would come down to point differential.

And the pressure is on to claim that No. 1 spot. The runner-up will face a tough River Oaks team on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

&uot;We’ve got two district wins, so that pretty much puts us in,&uot; WCCA head coach Paul Hayles said. &uot;We’ve got to figure out how to win that third game. If we win that, we host the first round of the playoffs.

&uot;Four years ago we had our first winning season in 10 years, and the next year was our first year making the playoffs in 12 years. Now we’ve done that back-to-back years. Now we’re looking at the possibility of a district championship.&uot;

That would be cause for celebration down in Woodville after the Rams finished second to Trinity Episcopal in each of the last two seasons. But there were other reasons to feel good about Ram football Friday night after the team went to Prentiss and put on one of its better performances of the season.

Defensively the Saints were held to 83 yards total offense, the Rams finished the game without a turnover for the first time all season and everyone is getting back healthy after six weeks of moving people around to cover those out injured.

&uot;We need to stay injury-free,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;It was kind of euphoric &045; we had not had our entire team out on the field at one time, and Friday night was the first time. All of a sudden I’ve got all these kids out there playing football, and it was nice being able to rotate them. That was the first game we had this year without a turnover. We’ve been really concentrating on it.&uot;

The defense has been the untold story in recent weeks, an area where the Rams have slowly gotten better.

Hayles pointed to the Brookhaven game back on Sept. 17 where they put together a solid quarter against a good Class AA team, and then was progress the next week at Union.

Collin Dor is back playing at outside linebacker, and Ruston Cado and Spike Deville are over some nagging injuries.

&uot;The defense followed their keys, stayed at home and really did their jobs,&uot; Hayles said. &uot;This team has really matured. That (youthfulness) is something we’ve put behind us. We make mistakes as a team, and it’s not because we’re young anymore. They were focused from the start.&uot;

The Rams are almost in, and Tensas can jockey for position with games this week as the Chiefs have a huge home game this week with Tallulah for that No. 2 spot in 7-A. Adams Christian hosts Central Hinds in a huge matchup Oct. 15, but the biggest showdown may come Oct. 22 when Centreville Academy travels to Oak Forest.

But for that game to be for all the marbles for the Tigers, they must get by a solid Brookhaven squad the week prior.

SPEAKING OF THE TIGERS &045; It almost came crashing down for Centreville Friday night when it had a chance to put away pesky Trinity but could not stop the Saints on a late drive in the fourth quarter.

The Saints, who struggled offensively for most of the first half, went with a little-used option attack on a critical drive with the Tigers holding a 21-14 leads. Zach Rogel broke away for a 34-yard run on a keeper that got down to the Centreville 30, and he came with another one three plays later from 16 yards out for a touchdown that tied the game at 21-21 with 3:23 left to play.

&uot;I just think we got tired and weren’t defending very well,&uot; CA head coach Bill Hurst said. &uot;Early in the game they tried to run it, and we defended it well. Late in the game I thought we got tired and got lazy, and they got after us. The credit goes to them.&uot;

It was a nice wrinkle at the time against a team that was having trouble at times stopping running back Stevan Ridley. The sophomore ran for 114 yards on a good Centreville defense with runs mostly between the tackles, but on those two plays Rogel displayed some deceptive speed in getting to the outside.

&uot;We knew after the great game last week Ridley would be a target,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;Zach and Kris Ford put together a couple of big plays. We just kept looking for things. Coach Hurst has always got a great defense down here, and we kept looking for things.&uot;

ENOUGH MCNAIRS &045; Through the years Cathedral’s coaches have grown accustomed to making a game plan against Mount Olive with a recurring theme &045; stopping someone named McNair.

It’s a string of family members that goes back to current Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, who starred at quarterback and defensive back for the Pirates before he landed at Alcorn.

The Pirates have always relied on someone named McNair, and on Friday Jason McNair put up 79 yards in their 46-7 win over the Green Wave. The Pirates have two McNairs in the backfield.

&uot;We’ve been playing them since the early 1990s when Steve was there,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;Most of (the McNairs) have been running backs or split ends. We played against Steve’s older brother (Fred) in the playoffs. We’re familiar with the McNairs. If I’m not mistaken, one of the McNairs (now) is (Steve’s) little brother.&uot;

JUST PRACTICE &045; Natchez High should be thankful for at least one thing from Friday’s 59-34 loss to Meridian.

The Wildcats didn’t use star running back Corders Eason much after the first drive of the game.

After an opening drive that featured six runs (and 35 rushing yards from Eason) and just one pass, the Wildcats went to the air for the rest of the contest.

&uot;We felt like we needed to work on the passing game,&uot; Meridian head coach Ed Stanley said. &uot;We ran the ball well early on, then we did some work on the passing game.&uot;

If the game turned into little more than a glorified practice session for the Wildcats, Natchez did some important work as well, using a suddenly potent passing attack to rack up 34 points, a big number for a team that had scored only 76 points coming in.

The Bulldogs have struggled to put together a complete game. Against Picayune, the Natchez defense had its best game of the season. Then against Meridian, the Bulldog offense came through with a 28-point second half, but the defense couldn’t stop the Wildcats.

&uot;The main thing is these kids are starting to feel like they can do something out there,&uot; NHS head coach Lance Reed said. &uot;I was happy they didn’t give up after the first half.&uot;

Christian Schmidt contributed to this report.