NATCHEZ — The Natchez-area MPSA schools struggled with injuries in this week’s games, with four total players going down for two teams.

Adams County Christian player Lee Swinny laid on the field for more than 20 minutes with pain in the back of his neck, although he had movement in his arms and legs.

“He just got caught in awkward position,” ACCS coach Paul Hayles said of Swinny. “He had a sprain in a muscle in his neck, like a whiplash-type thing. It was a glancing blow and a mild concussion.”

Swinny was down for so long partly because he had to wait for an ambulance to arrive. There was none at the game.

Hayles said it is a possibility that Swinny will be held out of practice this week and for Friday’s game against Silliman.

ACCS dropped the game to River Oaks, 48-21, although they scored 14 points in the second half.

Despite the scores, the Rebels did not have a single first down in the third or fourth quarters.

There were 10 total fumbles in the game and a blocked punt return for a score by each team.

“It came down to fundamentals,” Hayles said. “You got to hold onto the football and make those tackles. So many plays they added first downs and kept the drive alive from the backfield because we did not make the plays. On offense, if we made the key blocks where we should have — and we didn’t — it would’ve kept the drives alive.”

Hayles said that is something his team will continue to work on in practice as the Rebels face Silliiman, a team he said he will swap information with on Tuesday.

Silliman’s game was moved to Monday to avoid the storms associated with Hurricane Ike.

Wilkinson County Christian also struggled with injuries on Friday, including a trip to the hospital for fullback Spencer Smith, who suffered a neck injury.

Wingback and place-holder Justin David suffered an ankle injury, and starting quarterback George Davis injured his knee.

“We’re waiting on other two to get checked out, but the boy taken to the hospital was cleared,” said coach Paul Byrd. “Everything looks great on him. The CAT scan and X-rays came back negative. He’s going to be sore for a little while, but we’ll see if he can play Friday.”

Partially as a result of the injuries, WCCA fell by one point to Claiborne Academy, 14-13.

Smith’s injury fired WCCA up, and they scored on a 45-yard run by Tip McKenzie with 9 minutes left in the third to go ahead, but Claiborne answered back immediately to retake the lead.

McKenzie ran again, this time 65 yards for a score to put them within one, but because of the injury to David the Rams had to go for two, and they missed.

“I’d have probably gone for two anyway,” Byrd said. “I like to go for the win. My young guys stepped up and filled in and did a tremendous job. That’s what I like about my team.”

What Byrd does not like is the missed blocks by the younger backs, something he said will be a main focus of this week’s practices before Friday’s game against Franklin Academy.

Trinity Episcopal’s 37-0 win has put coach David King in a pretty good mood.

King has said all season his team was not up to fans’ and his own expectations, but the Saints finally rose to the level against Tri-County.

“We eliminated a lot of the mental mistakes and cut down a lot on our penalties, and those were certainly things we were concerned with,” he said.

King had said this past week that he had not solidified the starting rotation going into Thursday’s game, but he feels more confident with the roles now.

That is thanks in part to “outstanding practice” last week and senior leadership from quarterback Wells Middleton and lineman Larry Calcote, among others.

“We feel like we’re on the right track as far as who needs to be in the game at what time,” King said. “There are still some guys out there that need the opportunity to get the football. The games have been over pretty quick, so we’re trying to get these younger guys some touches so they can be ready when you need them.”

Trinity will face Prairie View in a district game on Friday, which King said is key to getting the Saints in a good position for the state championship.

Huntington Academy coach Chad Harkins was happy about the Hounds 36-6 win against Christian Home Educators Fellowship on Saturday, partially because he got to work on some things that are tough to do in practice.

“We were able to spread the ball out a little bit. We’ve been working on a new spread formation, so we got to work on that and get a little game experience with it,” Harkins said.

He introduced the spread offense last week, and while he said it is just another option and not something they will go to regularly, the Hounds had 65 passing yards and 298 yards on the ground.

“It’s fun for them to get out there and spread it out and throw it a little bit,” Harkins said. “We got a lot more work in on it last night than we did in practice. You got 20 kids and all them aren’t skill-type guys, so you get to work against defensive backs and others like that.”

Huntington takes on Cenla Christian Academy on Friday, a tough test, Harkins said, because of their size and speed.

“They’ve got a big fullback who’s about 250 pounds, and they’ve got a running back who’s pretty fast who they like to run outside with,” he said. “We just need to keep working on fundamentals, running the ball on our offense. Fundamental blocking and tackling needs to improve.”