NATCHEZ &045; After jumping out to an early 28-0 lead over the Silliman Institute Wildcats before the end of the first half, every indication was that the Trinity Episcopal Saints had victory well within their grasp and the football game was all but over.

But the Wildcats had other plans.

Silliman (1-3, 0-1) shut out the Saints in the second half, scoring 21 points in the process and had the ball in Trinity territory with under two minutes to play.

But a clutch interception by Trinity’s (2-1, 1-0) Tripp Bryant in the closing seconds of play clinched the 28-21 victory for the Saints.

&uot;We lost a little firepower there in the second half, but we were able to hold them off there at the end,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;Our kids are used to winning those type of games, and that certainly helped.&uot;

Silliman head coach Edwin Reeves said despite the loss, he was proud of his team’s fight.

&uot;The kids played real hard,&uot; he said. &uot;They didn’t give up, started doing some things we had planned on doing and weren’t doing in the first half. They executed well, and they just didn’t quit, and you can’t ask for much more.&uot;

The Saints jumped on the scoreboard on the first play from scrimmage, when Stevan Ridley scampered into the end zone from 39 yards out, which gave the Saints an early 7-0 advantage.

Following a quick Silliman three-and-out, Trinity methodically marched down the field and scored when quarterback Parker Brumfield connected with Kris Ford on an 8-yard touchdown.

&uot;We came out and executed extremely well in the first half offensively,&uot; King said.

The Saints would score again with 7:55 left in the second quarter, when Ridley found his way into the end zone again after a 9-yard run. After a blocked extra point attempt, the score was 20-0 in favor of the Saints.

Ridley contributed to the fourth and final Trinity touchdown when he found Ford on a 17-yard touchdown pass. After a successful two-point conversion attempt, the score was 28-0.

Reeves said he and his coaches decided at halftime to pound the Saints defense with the running game.

&uot;When you’ve got somebody like Matt (Williams), who runs the football so well, it makes people have to go look for him and that opens up some holes for some other guys,&uot; he said.

Williams, who led all rushers with 186 yards on the night, scored his first touchdown of the night with 7:08 left in the third quarter on a 22-yard run. The extra point failed, making the score 28-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, Silliman recovered its onside kick attempt and made the most of their extra scoring opportunity.

Quarterback Storm Reeves sliced through the Saints defense, taking the ball in from the 29-yard line with 5:47 to go in the third quarter. Williams converted on the two-point attempt, making the score 28-14.

&uot;All we were doing was decoying with him (Williams) and going on with somebody else,&uot; Reeves said. &uot;So that makes it a little easier. I mean, you’d like to hand it to Matt every time, but he can’t run the ball 50 times a game.&uot;

Reeves scored again when he ran in from 8 yards out with 5:48 left in the game, pulling the Wildcats to within seven.

But, that is as close as the Wildcats would get.

&uot;That’s just a tribute to how hard our kids have worked, and how badly they want to win,&uot; King said of his team. &uot;But we’ve got a lot of things we have to improve on.&uot;

Ridley led the Saints in rushing with 61 yards on nine carries.