NATCHEZ — Trinity coach David King wasn’t happy with his team’s effort in the second half of a 25-16 win over East Rankin two weeks ago.

But following the Saints 40-19 victory over MAIS District 6-A opponent Briarfield last Friday, King was much happier with his team’s total performance.

“I thought we played much better than we did the previous week against East Rankin,” King said. “We cut our penalties way down and we had a much better effort in the second half.”

Trinity is now 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in district play. Every district game is critical as there are only four teams in the district, with the top two teams making the playoffs.

Trinity’s other district games this year are against Tallulah and Huntington.

The Saints step out of district this week to host Alpha Christian.

King said some improvements still need to be made if the Saints want to win the district and make a charge in the playoffs.

“I think we’re still getting used to the new defense we’re running,” King said. “We’ve got some different personnel and some sophomore playing a lot. We know that Huntington and Tallulah are tough teams. It’s certainly good to go 1-0, but we’ve got to get better if we want to beat Huntington and Tallulah, we know that.”

While Trinity played its first district game last Friday, Huntington gets into district play this week when they take on Tallulah.

The Hounds lost to two-time defending MAIS Class AA state champion Centreville 56-28 last Friday, and assistant coach Matt Mason said the defense must improve for Huntington to have success in district play.

“Offensively we feel like we’ve got a lot of good athletes who can move the ball and score points,” Mason said. “But our defense has got to step up and get better at stopping the run.”

The Hounds gave up 444 total rushing yards to the Tigers last Friday, including 293 to senior running back Zach Sinclair.

Mason said young defensive line needs to improve to be able to compete against Tallulah’s power running game.

“We’ve got to stop their powerful run game,” Mason said. “If we can do that, our offense should be able to score enough points to win.”

Mason said the line’s struggles are not unexpected, as it is a youth-dominated position.

“We expected to struggle early,” Mason said. “We’re very young up front and with time, they will only get better up front. The better they get, the better we’ll be as a team.”

While Huntington is preparing for its first district game, so is Adams County Christian.

The Rebels will take on District 5-AA foe Wilkinson County Christian Friday at home.

ACCS is enjoying success it hasn’t seen in a couple of years, as the Rebels sport a 2-1 record following a 46-8 thrashing of Amite School Center last week.

ACCS coach Paul Hayles said the difference this season has been the focus of his players.

“I’m really happy with our focus,” Hayles said. “After last Friday’s game (Hillcrest Christian) where we turned the ball over six times, we entered Friday’s game with the goal of staying focused on all aspects of the game.”

Hayles said the players are seeing the success they deserve after their hard work and effort.

“When you go through what we’ve been through with the rebuilding project we had, you have understanding for the blessings you have,” Hayles said. “We know what we have to do from week to week to be competitive and have the season we want to have. The kids are working hard and are seeing the results of that on Friday night.”

The other private school game this week is Silliman at Centreville.