NATCHEZ &045; What do you do in times of uncertainty like last week when no one knew really what was going to happen?

Allen Iverson said it best &045; practice.

It’s about all teams in the Miss-Lou could do. Those in Mississippi &045; both pubic and private &045; had to do something to bide their time and stay sharp. Trinity Episcopal resumed normal protocol Thursday with a practice, went again Friday instead of visiting Oak Forest and came back Saturday morning.

The season resumes this week for MPSA schools. The Saints will face Oak Forest to end the season and instead will open District 4-AA action Friday at home against Silliman.

&uot;We always work out Saturday but just to run,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;We didn’t have a lot of rust on them. Our kids are anxious to play football after the off week. This is a new season, and we’re ready to go.&uot;

The assignment for the Saints this week is Silliman after the Wildcats and Centreville were the only teams in 4-AA &045; and perhaps the state south of Interstate 20 &045; to play last week. The Wildcats dropped a 16-0 decision to a struggling Centreville team.

But that was two weeks removed from their only win of the season &045; a 14-12 on the road against a good Tensas Academy squad.

The Wildcats didn’t win a game last season in a rebuilding year under longtime head coach Marvin Holland and lost to Trinity 40-7 in Clinton, La.

&uot;In this league, you can’t be down in talent, or you’re going to be in trouble,&uot; King said. &uot;They can still beat a good single-A team that makes the playoffs every year. They went 7-4 two years ago and didn’t make the playoffs. They’ve got more athletes than we have. But we didn’t get a lot of game plans in. We weren’t able to exchange films with them because of the weather.

&uot;I saw about a half (Friday night against Centreville). They’ve got a lot of good athletes. They just shot themselves in the foot a lot of times.&uot;

It’s also a chance for King and Holland to renew acquaintances after the two coached together in a MPSA All-Star game a couple seasons back. But King may have an idea of what Holland will stick with on both sides of the ball while the Wildcats’ defense will be centered around stopping Stevan Ridley.

&uot;I’ve always enjoyed talking with Marvin,&uot; King said. &uot;It’ll be a tough test for us. He’s moved a little more to the option and has a lot of athletes. They’ve got two really good backs &045; one really good one

See Notebook, 4B

fundamental on offense and defense.&uot;

Prairie View at Adams Christian

The week off actually gave the Rebels a chance to nurse some injuries, fine-tune some things and get ready for the District 3-AA schedule ahead.

That’s because this year’s run through the league is expected to be a little tougher. It’s no longer AC, Central Hinds and everybody else thanks to an emerging Copiah Academy team that may be the most improved team in the district.

&uot;We’ve got to win one of those games,&uot; Adams head coach Bobby Marks said. &uot;We’ve got a week, and we’ll see. But this is a district game this Friday night, and we can’t overlook anybody. We can’t go out there and think we’ve got it made. We just hope we can get through without any injuries.&uot;

At least the Rebels are in a better shape as far as injuries are concerned. Eric Perry may be out only three to four weeks after coaches worried he would be lost for the season after hurting a knee in the Trinity Episcopal game.

Linebacker David New stayed overnight in a hospital following the Trinity game due to dehydration, but he’s gotten better every day.

&uot;We’re getting back to normal, and we hadn’t missed too many kids,&uot; Marks said. &uot;We practiced every day last week. We needed it. (New) just ran out of juice, and they had to put some stuff back in him. I think that (off week) was kind of good.&uot;

It’ll give the Rebels more manpower for the Spartans, who struggled in their first two games but feature an offense that will pass nearly every down. The Spartans opened the season with a 49-6 loss to River Oaks and lost 50-6 the next week to Glenbrook before beating University Christian Prep last week 20-12.

&uot;From the film I saw, if they ran 30 plays, 25 of them were passes,&uot; Marks said.

&uot;They throw the ball every down, and sometimes you get lucky. (The QB) is a real good athlete and can throw the ball well. From the film I saw, it seems they threw themselves out of a ball game with interceptions.&uot;

Franklin at Huntington

FERRIDAY, La. &045; Now it’s the District 7-A opener for the Hounds. All set to go last week up until Thursday to face River Oaks, the Hounds had a decision to make whether or not to open up district play.

After second thoughts on the team and the opponent, Hounds head coach Chad Harkins went ahead and changed plans.

That game, like every other one scratched last week, will be played at the end of the season.

&uot;I didn’t know we had a decision to play or not,&uot; Harkins said.

&uot;We didn’t get to practice Monday or Tuesday, and we had several people missing (Wednesday). As far as I knew, everybody was still going to play. River Oaks is a good team, and if I could push them to the end of the year, I took it. I think we needed to go ahead and do that.&uot;

Now the Hounds are just excited to get back on the field after missing last week and downing Amite School Center in Week 2.

The opener now will be against the Cougars, a team that’s still going through growing pains in their third year of football at the Winnsboro school.

The Cougars opened district play last week and lost to Briarfield, 40-7.

&uot;They’ve got a decent quarterback who can throw pretty well,&uot; Harkins said. &uot;They’re not a real seasoned team. But they do look better on film this year than last year from what I’ve seen of them. They’ve definitely improved. I think we’re excited to play. I think they were looking forward to playing River Oaks.&uot;

Claiborne at WCCA

WOODVILLE &045; This wasn’t supposed to be on the schedule. The Rams and their pre-district schedule was already tough enough and were scheduled to host 2A Riverfield, but the MPSA had other ideas.

After two schools dropped out, everyone’s scheduled were shuffled. The Rams will host one of the better teams in Class A Friday in the Rebels.

The week off last week may have given the Rams a chance to heal some bumps and bruises after suffering a 49-0 loss to Porter’s Chapel two weeks ago.

Tensas at Briarfield

ST. JOSEPH, La. &045; The Chiefs were scheduled to be out of the district last week, so they’re starting 7-A action as scheduled this week when they travel to Lake Providence to take on the Rebels.

Tensas posted a win over Tri-County in Week 2.

Centreville at Columbia

CENTREVILLE &045; The Tigers showed signs of improvement on offense with a 16-0 win Silliman last week. They’ll need another improved effort against Columbia.

The Tigers’ defense, however, has been the team’s bright spot. The unit has allowed 23 points in three games.