Well, another year of high school football has come and gone.

It seems like only yesterday the players were sweltering in the August heat in two-a-days getting ready for the season to start.

And Friday the season came to an end as the Trinity Episcopal Saints whipped Tri-County Academy 46-14 on a cold and rainy afternoon in Jackson for the MAIS Class A state championship.

It seems that time always plays a cruel trick on us.

We wait through the long, hot summer months for the season to get here, thinking it never will.

And, when it finally does arrive, it always seems to fly by in the blink of an eye.

The season isn’t quite over for The Democrat sports department.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be receiving nominations from area coaches and combing through statistics to determine the All-Metro team and All-Metro player and coach of the year.

There will be a lot of tough decisions to make, as this was one of the finest years in Natchez football history.

All four Natchez teams made the playoffs, and finished with a combined record of 42-10.

The success of our local teams didn’t just resonate within the community. It was also noticed statewide, as The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson sent a reporter to write a story about our local team’s wins.

While Trinity Episcopal and Natchez High’s success wasn’t that much of a shock — after all, both teams were laden with talent and experience — the success of Adams County Christian and Cathedral was much more surprising.

Cathedral was coming off a 4-7 season and had a new coach in Ron Rushing, but the Green Wave rode a much improved offense and good defense to a 10-3 record and its first region championship since 1997.

The Green Wave also won their first playoff game since 1997, when they defeated Noxapater 21-14 in the first round.

Cathedral also got one of its most memorable wins in school history this season, when they scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion on the last play of the game to beat Mount Olive 22-21.

That is the same Mount Olive team that will be playing for the Class 1A state championship next week in Jackson.

ACCS, meanwhile, also enjoyed a great season, winning eight games and making the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

The Rebels are just two years removed from winning one game over a two-year period, and the job coach Paul Hayles has done to rebuild the program is quite remarkable.

The biggest congratulations goes to Trinity, which won its fifth state championship and fourth in the last 10 years with its dominating win on Friday.

The Saints were a powerhouse team all season, and staked its claim as not only the best team in Class A, but perhaps the best team in the entire MAIS.

I know I would love to see a game between the Saints and Class AAA champion Jackson Academy.

So another year is behind us. And now we begin the long, slow wait until August of next year, when once again we’ll be out in the heat watching our favorite teams play.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor for The Democrat. He can be reached at sports@natchezdemocrat.com, or by phone at 601-445-3632.