NATCHEZ — For a few minutes, all eyes were on Natchez High School defensive back Brian Isaac.

Isaac power cleaned 235 pounds five times Wednesday afternoon at the school’s Steckler Multipurpose Building, with both teammates and classmates looking on.

It’s unusual for students at Natchez to watch the power lifting competition the football team puts on in the spring, but Isaac said the competition wasn’t just for improving strength.

“We’re trying to get donations — $1 per student — and trying to improve our weight and get it up,” Isaac said.

“It’s just a fun day to get the school to come out and support us, and get our offseason workouts in so we can go into the season being prepared.”

Natchez head football coach Lance Reed said the donations also include individual pledges from local fans who agreed to pay a certain amount of dollars per pounds lifted.

“We always do offseason testing to see how our players improved in lifting, and this was just an opportunity to have fun and get everyone involved,” Reed said.

“The funds raised go towards a variety of items we’re doing for our football program, like camps and things of that sort. This is our first time trying it, so we don’t know how much we’ll raise, but chances at fundraisers are really important for us.”

The competition between teammates is also helpful in determining which players will likely step up during the season this fall, Reed said.

“Competition is the name of the game,” Reed said. “It allows us to see what kind of players we can trust, and see who will go all out and give it all on Friday nights in the fall. We try to give our guys as many opportunities to compete as we can.”

Isaac said the team also plans on doing additional fundraisers in the fall.

“We’ll be washing cars and selling food plates, and asking for donations,” Isaac said.

It’s never too early to look ahead to the fall, and Isaac said he’s very excited about the Bulldogs’ chances to make some noise this fall, and that they don’t want to settle for just making the second round of the playoffs again.

“I think this team is even better than last year’s,” Isaac said. “We’re hungry to go all the way. We have about 23 to 25 seniors coming back, so I think we’ll be motivated.”