NATCHEZ &045; The world of Class 5A football in Mississippi is certainly the most unforgiving.

There is little room for young, rebuilding programs such as the one at Natchez High &045; especially in the boiling pot that is Region 3-5A where the top four teams are among the top teams in the state. Northwest Rankin is one of them, and the Cougars used a solid first half to take a 56-16 win over the Bulldogs on their homecoming.

The Bulldogs, now losers of eight straight, have two games remaining next week at home against Oak Grove and at Brandon to finish out the season and try to take something positive into spring workouts.

&uot;We do some good things and a lot of bad things,&uot; Natchez High head coach Lance Reed said. &uot;We shoot ourselves in the foot &045; we get first downs, move the ball and get a holding penalty or something. Penalties we just can’t have at this stage of a game.

&uot;In 5A football, we have to be able to get certain things done. We’re far from it right now, but we’re heading in the direction we need to go.&uot;

The Bulldogs suffered the same fate Friday night they have against the other powers in the region. They made some mistakes early, fell behind quickly and never regrouped against a team that executed well on the ground and kept the Bulldogs from making any big plays in their passing game.

The Bulldogs moved the ball well at times &045; they finished with nearly 300 yards total offense &045; but had three interceptions that led to scores, had a punt returned for a touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown and a blocked punt deep in their own territory that set up another score.

Natchez was also without quarterback Riley Trask and receiver Charles Cothern, who sat out for disciplinary reasons.

&uot;You never know what’s going to happen in games like this, but it turned out OK,&uot; Northwest Rankin head coach David Coates said. &uot;We didn’t get anybody hurt bad, and that’s the main thing. We knew that Natchez could score some points. They’re the only team to put up what they did on Meridian. I was proud of my guys for stopping them.&uot;

The Cougars (5-0, 8-1) took advantage of every miscues in the early going to get out to the quick lead. Behind quarterback Tyler Moore, the Cougars made some connections in the passing game but had short fields to work with early and kept it on the ground.

Their first two scoring drives consisted of 46 yards, and Josh Brumfield’s 48-yard punt return in between the two helped put the lead at 21-0 with 4:25 left in the first quarter.

The Cougars got it to start the second quarter and had little trouble driving almost the length of the field. Brumfield’s 50-yard run highlighted a seven-play, 92-yard drive that ended with Philip Sistrunk taking it in from 1 yard out for a 28-0 lead with 8:31 left.

&uot;We’ve been focusing on tackling all year,&uot; Reed said. &uot;As funny as it sounds, we’ve improved in some areas. From the stands, it’s hard to tell. But we’re improving from an aggressive standpoint and tackling. But we’ve got a ways to go.&uot;

The Bulldogs had moments where they moved the ball against the Cougars, but a number of things kept happening &045; holding penalties, dropped passes or just being in a tight situation.

At the end of the first quarter Corey Barge picked off a Moore pass near midfield and returned it to the Northwest Rankin 17. Jason Bruce hit Brandon Lewis on a 11-yard pass to get to the 5, but Bruce was thrown for a loss, threw two incompletions and was thrown for a 2-yard loss on fourth down as the Bulldogs turned it over on downs.

&uot;We forget Jason is a 10th-grader,&uot; Reed said. &uot;He played freshman football last year. Jason is going to be a player for us and a leader of things we’re trying to do. He’s got room for improvement, but he’s going to be a good player.

&uot;It’s the same old story &045; we talk about youth and things of that nature, but some of our guys have to do a better job of growing up. We’re asking the guys to grow up fast.&uot;

Chad Byrd picked off a Bruce pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown, and Rucker Culpepper blocked a Travis Isaac punt deep in NHS territory that set up Moore’s 7-yard TD pass to Michael McCoy for a 42-0 lead with 5:14 left in the second.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the fourth quarter when Bruce scored on an 8-yard run with 4:50 left to cap a 10-play, 64-yard drive. Isaac ran it in from 12 yards out for a touchdown on the final play of the game.

&uot;Natchez has a young team, and I think they’ve got a future in front of them,&uot; Coates said. &uot;We didn’t give up any big plays and made them drive the ball, and they made some mistakes before they got there. Defense was tough. That (first half stand) might have taken the breath out of them, but I don’t know.&uot;