Only Trinity seems to be upholding Natchez’s long-time high school football winning tradition.

In spite of moving up to Mississippi Private School Division AA last year, the Saints appear to be top of the class of that division this season. Coach David King at Trinity really does a good job and his success and coaching have attracted a number of outstanding players to that program.

Natchez High School, Cathedral and ACCS are having a difficult time this season. Natchez High’s Bulldogs and Cathedral’s Green Wave have both played a demanding schedule, meeting division powerhouses Oak Grove and Mount Olive last Friday night.

Poor ACCS, suffering from a lack of quality athletes, nonetheless stepped up and faced AAA Parklane Friday night, and the result was a 49-13 setback.

Natchez can be proud of Mississippi State’s Anthony Strauder, who has been named one of the finalists for the Draddy Award.

Named for the late chairman of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Vincent Draddy, the award requires that an individual be a starter for a Division 1-A team, and carry at least a 3.2 grade point average. The eventual winner will receive a $25,000 post- graduate scholarship.

Ole Miss and Southern Mississippi lost games Saturday they both should have won. Mississippi State and LSU return to action next week after bye weeks which hopefully will key a winning week for Miss-Lou fan favorite teams.

Delta State (over previous No. 1 Valdosta State), Millsaps, and Belhaven all posted victories Saturday, with the win meaning Millsaps now stands at 6-0 for the season.

Former Natchez Coach Glen Davis’ Co-Lin Wolves beat nationally ranked Gulf Coast Community College Saturday in overtime. The Wolves are led by Davis’ son Micah at quarterback.

From what I read and understand, Southern Mississippi had a logical officiating complaint Saturday during their loss to Texas El Paso.

During the second overtime, after Southern had kicked a field goal in their part of that period, the UTEP quarterback, while remaining in the pocket, was about to be tackled for a loss.

Instead, he threw the ball over everybody and out of the back of the end zone. The rules allow a passer to throw the ball away to avoid loss of yardage or to conserve time.

However, there are three conditions that must be met. He must be outside of the tackle box, which is where the offensive tackles normally line up, the ball must be thrown past the line of scrimmage, and it must be thrown out of bounds.

In the questioned play, the last two conditions were met (remembering that the space beyond the end zone is out of bounds) and the pass was obviously beyond the line of scrimmage. However, the first condition appears to have been missed.

I did not see even a replay of the play, so I can only go by what I have read or heard, and that is that the passer was nowhere near out of the tackle box.

In all fairness, I have never seen a referee call grounding when a passer throws the ball over everybody past the end zone. It is very hard to determine if the pass is being thrown away or simply overthrown.

For those seeking their weekly eight-man football fix, Christian Collegiate beat Mt. Salus 52-38; Kemper beat Russell Christian 30-6; Rebul defeated MSD 42-32; and Tensas handled Ben’s Ford 37-23.

And, That’s Official.

Al Graning writes a weekly column for The Democrat.