Trinity playing for district title

Published 12:36 am Friday, October 22, 2010

NATCHEZ — If there were a such thing as sudden death in a race for a district championship, Trinity Episcopal’s game tonight would be the closest thing to it.

The Saints (9-0) will travel to Tallulah Academy (4-5) for an MAIS District 6-A matchup — the only one of the season for either team. With Huntington School closing and Briarfield Academy dropping to eight-man football, Trinity and Tallulah are the only two teams left in District 6-A.

Saints assistant coach Richy Spears said the fact that it’s the only district game for Trinity this season makes the matchup all the more important.

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“The bad thing is, it’s the district championship. You come out flat and anything can happen,” Spears said.

“It’s kind of hard with it being the only one, because you’re used to four or five district games. We had to pick up some games, and we played teams like River Oaks and Brookhaven Academy, so I think that helped.

“We have to find the aggression we had in those games for this week’s game and next week’s game against Glenbrook Academy, another AA team.”

But Trinity quarterback Givonni Dent said there wasn’t any more pressure in this week’s game than there is in any other game.

“As long as we come out ready to play, there’s no pressure in any games,” Dent said.

“As long as we bring our A game and respect our opponent, we’ll be OK. We know everyone’s going to bring their A game against us.”

Spears said Tallulah Academy is usually known for its smash-mouth football style, but the Trojans have changed their offensive style this season.

“They moved to more of a spread offense like what we run,” Spears said.

“We feel like we’re equipped to handle that because of the speed of our defense. We have 17 or 18 interceptions so far this season, so hopefully we can capitalize on that speed and make some plays.”

Dent, who plays safety for the Saints, said he’s confident the secondary will have a big game tonight.

“We feel like we should have a few interceptions. Our strengths are our ability to break on the ball and make open field tackles,” Dent said.

Kickoff is at 7 tonight at Tallulah Academy.