Trinity looking for 5-0 against district foe

Krysten Oliphant

Published Friday, September 19, 2008

NATCHEZ — Trinity coach David King is hoping to cruise to a 5-0 record in Friday’s game against Prairie View Academy.

But he does not expect a blowout score.

Instead, King hopes the Saints will go ahead by enough points to allow his younger players to get some good playing time in the second half.

“We score fairly quick, but I have got some guys that need to touch the football,” he said. “We need to get in shape. We haven’t played but three quarters of football in our ballgames basically. To be as modest as I can, we don’t go out trying to run the score up on people. I’ve got four or five people that deserve to carry the ball more than two or three times. We want to see our young kids get into the ballgames when we can.”

King has been criticized for allowing his team to continue to score even when the game is clearly over, particularly in the game against rival Adams County Christian in August, when the Saints won 54-14.

They were up 35-7 in the first half.

But King adamantly insists he will not attempt to run up the score in any game.

“I don’t ever run the score up unless there’s a reason to,” he said. “Bottom line, we’re interested in winning a district football game. The score is immaterial. And we always make it a point — unless we’ve been provoked — we don’t make it a habit at Trinity of doing anything unethical. If we get up by a large margin, we’re going to stop trying to score. But at the same time, our young kids have got to learn how to play the game.”

King said he and his team are in an awkward position.

“The object is to win and to score more points than the other team, and the object also is to stop the other team from scoring,” he said. “We know what kind of program we have, and were not about embarrassing anybody.”

Prairie View is 0-4 this season with losses to Briarfield Academy of Lake Providence, La., Southern Baptist of Southaven, Porter’s Chapel and Riverfield Academy in Rayville, La.

King said the Spartans are coming off one of their best seasons in a long time.

“They’ve got a real good running back, Spires. He was one of the leading backs in the district last year,” King said. “They’re down a bit from what they were last year, no question. I think they’re having a tough time defensively it looks to me on film.”

King also said his offensive scheme should be able to easily handle Prairie View.

“We present a lot of problems because we throw and run the football, and most teams just run or throw,” he said. “We present a lot of problems being as diverse as we are. I’m sure that will be an advantage, being able to go either way.”

With the cooler weather and the first rainless week in as long as most can remember, King said the Saints had outstanding practices this week.

He has said since the season began that his team would be markedly improved by week five, and he stands by that this week.

“We’ve got some young guys, but they’re not young anymore. The mistakes should be over with now,” he said. “We’re platooning at some positions, but we’ve pretty much got it lined out. In the AA level, the more guys that can go one way the better chance you have of winning. We’re still trying to really advance some younger players.”