Wilkinson County Christian Academy has just more than half the players Adams County Christian School has, but Rams coach Mac Newcomb hopes his team can leave that out of tonight’s matchup in Natchez.

WCCA — an MAIS Class A school — is scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m. against the Rebels, and Newcomb said there is much to gain from a game with a bigger school.

“We don’t want to be negative,” he said. “Playing a big school, it exposes the kinds of things you have to work on. We don’t have that many kids, but finding your weak links is also a good thing. A challenge is what it’s all about.”

While Newcomb realizes he doesn’t have the talent pool ACCS yields, he said he is still pleased with his team’s performance so far this season.

The Rams (0-3) fell last week to Prairie View Academy, 44-0.

“With us, nobody gets a break. It’s just something we have to deal with,” Newcomb said. “If someone on their team isn’t executing, they can switch them out. I just can’t do that, but that doesn’t mean my kids aren’t going to do the best they can.”

ACCS coach David King said though he expects to defeat WCCA, he relates to Newcomb’s ideology.

The Rebels (2-1) are coming off a loss to Class AAAA powerhouse Presbyterian Christian, 38-7.

“I’ve always learned a lot more about my teams from playing up,” King said. “I like to play games like we did last Friday where we get our butts kicked. We needed that game to prove what I knew — we are not nearly as good as people say and think we are, but we are not nearly as bad as that score.”

Going into tonight’s game, King said he pushed the Rebels in practice for one reason — to better themselves.

“It was kind of perfect for us. We learned a lesson that we have a lot of work to do, but it really should have been a lot closer,” he said. “This week we are playing a team we are better than, so I’m looking for execution. We were not sound in anything we did last week. We were an uninspired and unprepared ball club.”

As King hopes his team can improve, Newcomb wishes the same.

“The first thing we have to do is stay healthy. We can’t afford to have anybody hurt,” he said. “We also have to have heart to fight and never give up — try to learn from your mistakes and get better each week. That’s all we can do. It remains to be seen how it plays out, but I hope they rise to the challenge.”