Natchez folks keep popping up around the Madison/Ridgeland area. An athlete I had overlooked in previous columns is Joseph Burns, a junior defensive end for Madison St. Joseph.

Last Friday night in a game billed as the &8220;Battle of Highland Colony Parkway,&8221; Burns and his St. Joseph teammates garnered a measure of revenge on their St. Andrews rivals with a resounding 31-6 win. St. Andrews had dominated the series for several years, but the 2005 edition of the St. Joseph Bruins completed their regular season at 9-1 and will host Perry Central next week in a first-round 2A playoff game.

St. Andrews dropped to third in the region and will be on the road to Seminary in other first-round action.

Burns is the son of Tim and Becky Burns. Tim is the son of the late Andrew (Doomie) and Alice Burns. Tim was a 1975 graduate of Cathedral.

St. Andrews had ridden the fleet feet of Bradford Blackmon all season and came into the game at 5- 4. Burns played a major role in containing Blackmon and also contributed three quarterback sacks to the St. Joseph defensive effort.

St. Joseph&8217;s 9-1 regular season record is the best since the 1970s when the Bruins (under then-coach Bill &8220;Coobie&8221; Raphael) won all 11 games and earned the Jackson City Championship. Both St. Joseph and St. Andrews used to be regulars on the Cathedral schedule, and St. Joe beat the visiting Green Wave in last season&8217;s opener, 31-0.

St. Joseph and St. Andrews moved up to 2A status in the last few years, so they no longer will normally play the Green Wave.

I noticed in Saturday&8217;s Mississippi State-Alabama game that three plays were subjected to review by the replay official. As near as I can tell, none of the three resulted in the overturning of the on-field official&8217;s decisions.

I really did not see the necessity of two of the reviews, but the play involving an Alabama fumble deep in State territory was reviewed to determine the location of the ball when is was fumbled, because it occurred on fourth down and only the fumbling player could advance the ball from that point.

The replay must have clearly showed the fumble happened short of Alabama&8217;s line to gain for a first down because State took over possession and the Tide failed to score.

The SEC replay and review system seems to be working out well this season, which is a lot more that I can say about Tennessee. After mounting a major comeback against Notre Dame Saturday, the Vols again suffered a huge collapse. It looked like they just didn&8217;t want it as badly as the Irish.

That once-proud program is in a state of disarray. It looks like they will not go bowling for the first time since 1988, and that is sure to upset a lot of Big Orange fans.

And that&8217;s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. Reach him at

AlanWard39157@aol.com

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