Saints head to South State championship game

Published 1:09 am Saturday, November 17, 2007

NATCHEZ — Now that’s more like it.

One week after struggling to a 12-6 win over a 5-5 Riverfield team that barely made the playoffs, Trinity showed everyone why they are the team to beat in MPSA Class AA by completely dominating Oak Forest, 35-12.

With the win, Trinity moves into the South State championship game, where they will host Centreville next week at 7 p.m.

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The Saints (13-0) got a great performance from their defense and offensive line.

Trinity’s defense held Oak Forest to just 110 total yards, with 71 of those coming on two long pass plays.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Saints gashed the Yellow Jacket defense for 235 rushing yards on 46 attempts.

“We were just a physical football team that was hungry on its home field,” Trinity coach David King said. “These boys want a state championship and knew they had to have a win tonight to get there.”

While the Saints dominated both sides of the ball, turnovers kept Oak Forest (10-3) in the game through the first two quarters.

The Yellow Jackets got on the board first when Justin Hatcher intercepted Parker Brumfield’s pass and returned it 65-yards to paydirt midway through the first quarter.

Trinity answered on a 16-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter and then got a big score right before halftime.

After an illegal motion penalty wiped out a touchdown pass on fourth and goal, Brumfield found Justin Vance over the middle for a 10-yard score as time expired in the first half to give the Saints a 14-6 lead following Chas Moroney’s extra point.

“That play right at the halftime got us really fired up,” King said. “I think that really sparked us. Having the eight point lead at half was huge.”

Another Brumfield interception set up Oak Forest’s second touchdown on a Luke Petitto 2-yard plunge early in the third quarter. The two-point conversion failed and Trinity still held the lead.

After a Trinity punt, Brumfield would make up for his three interceptions by turning the tables on Petitto.

Brumfield stepped in front of the Yellow Jacket quarterback’s pass and returned it to the Oak Forest 32.

Trinity would score four plays later on a Matthew Freeman 1-yard plunge and never look back.

“I was trying to get a fire into the team and it seemed to work,” Brumfield said. “Right after that we punched it in. Then they (Oak Forest) started to falling apart themselves.

After an Oak Forest punt, Trinity sealed the win when R. J. Fleming scampered 71 yards down the left sideline for a score late in the third quarter.

“Our line play was so dominant that he was able to get to the second level untouched,” King said of Fleming, who rushed for 171 yards and two scores. “He was able to make some moves and big plays.”

Trinity closed the scoring midway through the fourth quarter when Brumfield hooked up with Freeman on a 35-yard scoring pass.

Brumfield finished the night with 156 passing yards and two touchdowns to go along with his three picks.

“We’ve tried to be modest but the bottom line is, we’ve got a very good football team that believes it can win every night,” King said. “It’s an exciting team to coach.”