CENTREVILLE — Following its lost to Trinity Episcopal Sept. 3, Centreville Academy head coach Bill Hurst said his team was going to go “up,” despite being in an 0-3 hole to start the season.

This past Friday at Silliman, the Tigers managed to finally get off the ground.

Centreville (1-3, 1-0) opened its district season with a convincing 41-12 win over Silliman, and assistant coach Brian Stutzman said it was good for the Tigers to finally have a win under their belts.

“We just made some plays when we had to. We got some turnovers and settled in on offense,” Stutzman said.

“We moved the ball pretty well. We sort of had a running back by committee going for us. We had some cramping problems again, but we were able to work through it. They stepped up and decided they wanted to be players.”

Now, Stutzman and the rest of the Tigers’ coaching staff will see a familiar face on the sidelines when it hosts Amite School Center from Liberty this Friday.

Former Wilkinson County Christian coach Ray Olive has taken over at ASC, and Stutzman said Olive has his players believing they can win.

“He’s going them playing hard, and playing until the whistle stop. They give great effort, and they’ll hit you. They’re very aggressive,” Stutzman said.

“On offense, they run mostly power sets, and they have a good running back. They will run some spread sets too. They’re a scrappy little bunch.”

Despite the rough start to the season, Stutzman echoed his head coach’s sentiments in believing in his players’ ability to turn things around by the time district games began.

“No one likes to be 0-3, but we’ve played three quality opponents. We have a tough schedule that’s just going to prepare us for down the road,” Stutzman said.

“On offense and defense, we just start with the basics and build up, so we expect to be at maximum potential by the start of district games.”

Stutzman also said the early part of the season is a grooming period for his players, where they discover that they can’t just show up and automatically expect to come out on top.

“We come out with the attitude that, we’re Centreville, and they’re just going to lie down for us. It’s just the opposite — we’re a winning program, and we have a target on our backs,” he said.

And Stutzman said they’d better show up to play Friday if they want to win for a second straight week.

“If we just go out there and don’t show up… We told the players, we’re both 1-3, and someone’s going to come out 1-4,” Stutzman said.