NATCHEZ — Trinity Episcopal doesn’t have a slingshot, just a football.

But when the Saints step on the field tonight for their home opener, they’ll be aiming it right between the eyes of one of the state’s giants.

Trinity, a MAIS Class A participant, will step up two classes and welcome Class AAA East Rankin to campus for a 7 p.m. kickoff today.

East Rankin went 5-6 last season and lost its season opener to Lamar School 21-13 last Friday.

However, the Patriots still play in the state’s largest private school classification, and Trinity coach David King knows it will be a tough assignment for his team.

“When we scheduled this game, we knew it was going to be a heavy task,” King said. “Judging by the game film I’ve seen, they are a very good team and one of the top three teams we’ll see this year.”

Trinity opened its season last Friday with a 48-7 win over Prairie View, and King said his players are excited to host the Patriots this week.

“The kids are excited about the challenge,” King said. “It’s a new opponent we don’t know much about.”

But King said he does know the Patriots are a solid team.

“They are a typical AAA team,” King said. “They’re well-coached, fundamentally sound at all phases of the game and bigger than we are. That’s going to be a concern for four quarters of football. But I do feel that our skill is as good as theirs.”

King said depth is a concern for the Saints, who only have 25 players on their roster, but feels his players are in great shape.

“Depth is always a concern when you go up in class (to play an opponent),” King said. “But the kids are in great condition. They really worked hard in the offseason. It seems that all of our players can get out there and play.”

One thing King would like to see improvement on from last week’s performance is the number of penalties the Saints received.

Trinity was flagged 12 times for 100 yards in last week’s victory.

King said he doesn’t mind a few flags, but 12 is way too many.

“I always take into account that we do so many more different things on both sides of the ball than other teams, we’re going to get more penalties,” King said. “I take into account we’ll get four or five penalties a game because of our style of play, but I don’t want 12. I can live with five or six, but 12 is just too many.”

And even if Trinity isn’t able to hit East Rankin squarely between the eyes and knock the Patriots out, King said it was worth trying.

“We want to improve our status on being good in our class, and to do that we need to step up and play bigger and better schools than ourselves,” King said. “We know what to expect, and the kids are excited.”