NATCHEZ — River Oaks School in Monroe, La., only had one loss last season en route to the 2010 MAIS Class AA state championship.

That loss came in early October to a Trinity Episcopal team that won all 15 of its games, including the 42-21 win over River Oaks, on its way to the MAIS Class A title.

Today the two teams will face off again in Monroe, but with Trinity moving up to Class AA this season the Mustangs and the Saints now have their eyes on the same state championship trophy.

“They are very well coached, and they are going to be pretty good,” Trinity assistant coach Richy Spears said. “We’ve developed a rivalry with them over the years. It’s always a hard-fought game. They want to beat us as bad as we want to beat them.”

Spears said it’s possible today’s match up is just round one between the two schools this season.

“They are in the North in (Class) AA, so hopefully, either way (the game goes Friday) we hope to see them again. We feel like they are one of the contenders up there, no doubt,” Spears said.

Spears said River Oaks brings an offense that will challenge his defensive unit.

“They are balanced,” he said. “They’ll get in pro (formations) and ram it at you and run the ball tough. Then they can get in the spread and run it and throw it some. They have some pretty good skill players and they have a pretty good line. Our lines, both offensive and defensive, are going to have to get after it.

Spears said River Oaks will not do anything differently than the teams Trinity has played this season, but they will probably execute it better than most of Trinity’s previous opponents.

“If we mess up this week it’s going to show,” he said.

Defensively Trinity could be without one of its leaders today, because linebacker Daniel Dunaway suffered a knee injury in last week’s win over Silliman.

Spears said Zach Young would step in for Dunaway.

“(Young) has played some,” he said. “We have some linebackers that go both ways, and if they get tired or mess up Zach can go in and play middle or outside linebacker. He’s a good looking kid, and plays hard.”

Spears said the potential loss of Dunaway would be big for his defense.

“It’s huge, because Daniel was more or less the captain of the defense. He started pretty much every game the last two years for me and made all the calls. Putting that on somebody else is big. That’s a lot of what’s been going on this week, getting calls in and making sure they understand what’s going on.”

Spears said River Oaks’ balanced attack will force his linebackers to do a good job recognizing formations and tendencies.

“I feel like our linebackers are going to have to have a real good game recognizing formations,” he said. “I put a lot on them to make sure everybody gets lined up and make the right calls.”

Trinity (3-1) and River Oaks (2-2) will kick off at 7 p.m. today.

ACCS at Bowling Green School

Penalties and mistakes have caused the Adams County Christian School football team all season, head coach Hunter McKeivier said. This week ACCS is working to correct those issues before they travel to Franklinton, La., to face Bowling Green School.

“We have to cut mistakes,” McKeivier said. “Every time we move the football we have made a mistake with either a penalty or a turnover. If we cut those mistakes out we’re in the ball game.”

McKeivier said Bowling Green uses a power running game, and his defense has spent time this week learning how to attack it.

“They are a physical team,” he said. “They get into a Power-I formation and run the ball down hill. They have good athletes. We’ve been preparing pretty hard for it. I am really looking for us concentrating on staying low in gaps and flowing hard and aggressively to the ball. Our defensive backs and linebackers have got to be able to wrap up.”

McKeivier said his team has also focused on tackling this week in practice.

McKeivier said this is a big game for ACCS (1-3) to try to get back on track before District 5-AA play starts next week against Trinity.

“We want to gain confidence before we get into the district schedule,” he said. “Every game is big. Every kid wants to win every game, and every coach wants to win every game.”

ACCS and Bowling Green will kick off at 7 p.m.