NATCHEZ &045; It was homecoming night for the Trinity Saints and quarterback Zach Rogel’s last home game of his high school career.

The Saints gave their fans a homecoming game that they would never forget. They came back from a 23-point deficit in the first half to win 28-23 in one of the most exciting games of the year.

Things got real ugly early for Rogel and the Saints after Bowling Green scored on its opening drive on a Blake Graham 63 yard touchdown run putting them up early 7-0. Then

on their next drive, Bowling Green marched down the ball down the field 63 yards and Adam Thomas scored on a 25 yard touchdown pass from Chad Champagne, making it 13-0 after a failed Bryan Williams’ kick to end the first quarter.

With the momentum carrying Bowling Green into the second quarter they just kept pouring it on the Saints’ defense by adding three more on a Williams field goal.

BG put the cherry on top when Champagne connected on a short 5-yard touchdown pass to Nick Goings before heading into the locker rooms.

The Bowling Green defense stayed tough throughout the first half, only allowing 17 yards of total offense from Trinity.

They also forced two fumbles and recovered both, which they took advantage of scoring on both Saint miscues.

&uot;There was a lot of emotion because it’s homecoming and our guys were just playing a little down after the second quarter,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said.

That’s when Zach Rogel stepped up and, playing his last home game of his career, rallied his team.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Saints marched the ball to the BG 17 from their own 27-yard line after two big catches by Kris Ford of 29 and 12 yards and an 11-yard Ridley carry.

On the next play Ridley found the end zone and brought the momentum back to the Saints’ offense. Rogel was successful on the 2 point conversion making it 23-8 with 9:39 in the third.

&uot;We tried to spread the ball out because we noticed that their defense was keyed on Ridley most of the first half,&uot; King said.

The Saints defense came alive and shut out BG in the second half and had three big sacks that brought the crowd back in the game.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter Rogel connected with his favorite receiver Kris Ford for a 27-yard score and made the 2 point conversion making it 23-16.

The defense forced BG to punt and Trinity took over from there, scoring again on a 24-yard run from Cap White to bring them within one after the two-point conversion attempt failed making the score 23-22 with more than six minutes left to play.

Down by one in the fourth quarter and making one of the best fourth quarter comebacks this year, Rogel had a little under four minutes to bring his team back.

After a big defensive stand, the Trinity Saints took over on their own 15 yard line, and Rogel immediately hit receiver Tripp Bryant for a 15-yard gain and a first down.

But a bad snap brought them back 16 yards and put them in a huge second and 26.

The senior quarterback seemed to be as cool as the other side of the pillow and connected for an 85 yards touchdown strike to Kris Ford, which just happened to be the play to win the game for the Saints.

&uot;I gave them a talk at halftime that could have probably put me in jail, but some kids need to be chewed out because it helps motivate them,&uot; King said.

A speech that motivated senior quarter back Zach Rogel to throw for 234 yards in the second half and make three big open field tackles on defense for the Saints.

&uot;We have found a way to win five games in a tough district, and nobody even in a straightjacket expected us to do that,&uot; King said.