Trinity looking for great things in 2009 season

Published 12:20 am Saturday, August 8, 2009

NATCHEZ — High expectations surround the Trinity Episcopal football team after its first two weeks of practice.

Saints head coach David King wrapped up his squad’s second week of two-a-days on Friday, and came away with praises for the group of young men he’s coaching this fall.

The skill sets of the players and the leadership abilities they bring to the table are two things that King singled out as reasons he has such positive feelings about the upcoming season.

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“We’re going to be a very fast football team for our level of football,” King said. “I really like this group of seniors. I think they have some leadership qualities I’m excited to have, and I think if we can stay injury-free, good things are ahead for us.”

R.J. Fleming, Saints senior running back, said that the leadership qualities of people he’s played with in the past have helped prepare him to step up as a leader this fall.

“We’ve been here since ninth grade,” Fleming said. “We’ve been under great leadership, so everything we know we’ve been taught by great players.

“We want this (badly) so we can share this with the people we’ve been playing with since ninth grade. We just want to share a great feeling with them in our last year.”

King said his focus the first two weeks of practice has been installing the game plan that he wants to use when the season begins.

“We do a lot of different things from year to year,” King said. “We’ve got some new kids filling in at certain spots and we feel like we’ve got to drill out those repetitive things on both sides of the football.”

Fleming said the coaches have also stressed conditioning to the players.

“He thinks that if we can be in shape, the plays that he calls, we can execute well,” Fleming said. “The biggest part is just being in shape, because we’re smart enough to run the plays and execute.”

King said he feels his players have risen to the challenge of showing up well conditioned.

“We’ve got some kids that are dedicated, and they’ve come into camp in great shape (after) a good summer workout,” King said.

Senior offensive lineman Deacon Newman said that the players have been using practice to prepare for the Natchez High Jamboree, where they will take on Wilkinson County High School on Friday. Newman said he feels the jamboree is an important starting point in the team’s quest to win it all this year.

“It’s a big deal for us,” Newman said. “We’re on a hunt for a state championship. This team’s really special. We’ve got a lot of talent.”

Fleming echoed Newman’s feelings about how good this year’s Saints team could be.

“Everyone’s come out and worked hard,” Fleming said. “We’ve shown a great attitude. We’re being really positive about everything. This is a really special team. This team wants it more than any team I’ve been on since ninth grade.”