FERRIDAY — For Trinity Episcopal School, simply winning a district championship is not enough.

The Saints want to go undefeated in district play, and the only thing standing in between them and that goal is a young Huntington School team that has struggled mightily this season.

“It’s a district game, so it’s a must-win,” Saints head coach David King said.

“We want to go undefeated in district, so we’ll have to be ready (for tonight). It’s a good thing knowing we’ll have next week either way, but we have to be ready to play.”

Despite the Hounds’ struggles this season, King has noticed the improvement they’ve shown later in the season.

“They’re a young bunch, and I’m sure they’re going to play their best ball game against us,” King said. “Their young guys have gotten better as the year’s gone on. We expect them to play hard and represent their school very well.”

For Huntington, the biggest challenge will be with how well his team matches up against the Saints’ skill players, Hounds head coach Chad Harkins said.

“Coach King does a great job with the boys there,” Harkins said. “They have a lot of tradition and have been winning for a long time. They’re one of the top contenders in our classification.

“It’s going to be very tough to compete with the skill guys Trinity has. They have four or five guys that can run, but they try to spread the ball out, so they have a lot of weapons to use. Our guys have been through a few battles, but I don’t know if we’ve played a team the caliber of Trinity.”

King said Trinity versus Huntington is a good game for the fans, since the schools are in such close proximity to each other.

“It’s a close rivalry. We know their families and they know our families.”

With it being the final home game for the Hounds, Harkins said he hopes for his team to give senior quarterback Jess Dossett some good memories for his final game.

“It’s very important to go out there and let the boys execute, and be competitive, so that it will be a good experience for him,” Harkins said.

King said he’s familiar with Dossett, and expects a lot of effort from him.

“I’ve known him since he was a baby,” Kind said. “I know he’ll give 100 percent every snap.”

For the Hounds to have a chance tonight, Harkins said they would have to keep the vaunted Trinity offense off the field.

“We’re going to have to keep the ball away from them. If we don’t, it may be a long night.”

Trinity (7-3, 2-0) and Huntington (3-7, 0-2) will square off at 7 tonight.