Well, we&8217;re only four months into the new school year, and already we have two shiny new state championship trophies to show for it.

Trinity Episcopal and Franklin County completed their title quests last week, with the Saints taking a 28-27 win over Briarfield last Thursday and the Bulldogs walloping Nettleton 23-13 Saturday.

The Saints were, in many ways, outplayed by Briarfield during their game last week at Robinson-Hale Stadium in Clinton.

The Rebels put on an inspiring performance with a team that didn&8217;t quite measure up to Trinity in most spots on the field, but they were clearly very excited to be there and made the most of their opportunity to get the trophy.

Luckily for the Saints, head coach David King had them well prepared for the game, and Stevan Ridley put on an incredibly gutsy performance on a badly injured ankle.

Ridley was probably three or four steps slow, and his injury prevented the Saints from doing many of the things they like to do offensively.

Had Ridley been healthy, the game wouldn&8217;t have even been close, but as it were, fans were treated to a thrilling finish when the Saints stopped the Rebels short of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt.

Just a few miles down the road Saturday at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, the Franklin County Bulldogs put on quite the impressive performance in defeating Nettleton 23-13.

While that score may not sound like much, it was not at all indicative of how Franklin County controlled much of the game.

The Bulldogs reached inside the Nettleton 20 on a couple of occasions but failed to score due to turnovers on downs. With a few different bounces of the ball, that game could have easily finished 35-0. The Bulldogs were clearly the best team in 3A by the time that game was over.

What an exciting football season it was. Seven Miss-Lou teams made the playoffs, and two more came within a win of doing so.

We saw plenty of great games (Natchez-Franklin County and Trinity-Porters Chapel, anyone?), great players (Jason Bruce, Ridley, Demack Bates, Montario Tennessee and Patrick McDonough, to name just a few) and great teams, and I&8217;m certainly sad to see the season over.

There&8217;s plenty to look forward to, though, as basketball and soccer are now officially in full swing, and several teams look to be prepared to make a run.

Sports never end, and we&8217;ll be here all year to provide you with more coverage.

Hopefully, there are a few more trophies in the bag for us before the school year is out.

Tim Cottrell is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by phone at 601-445-3632 or by e-mail at

tim.cottrell@natchezdemocrat.com

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