NATCHEZ — After playing most of the season with a bang, Trinity Episcopal Day School’s regular season will end with a whimper.

The high-scoring Saints will only have a scrimmage with Wilkinson County Christian Academy to look forward to tonight, as the Saints’ scheduled opponent, Tallulah Academy, opted to forfeit tonight’s game.

Trinity head coach Josh Loy said he was “extremely disappointed” in Tallulah’s (1-8, 0-3) decision not to play Friday’s game. The game would have decided given the Saints an undefeated run in district play that was actually decided on the field.

“The way you want to win district is, you want to earn it,” Loy said. “I hate it for the seniors losing a game; it’s one less game for them to play.”

According to Loy, Tallulah decision-makers voted to forfeit the game because they only had 14 players, five of whom are freshmen.

“My thing is, it only takes 11 to play,” Loy said. “They came down and played us in junior high earlier this year, and we only played 13 players, and they pounded us. It’s an unfortunate situation. We needed the work to get ready for the playoffs. I’m sick about it for the kids, because they wanted to play.”

In fact, when Trinity takes the field next week for the opening round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools playoffs Nov. 1, it will have three weeks since the Saints last played. Trinity’s last game was a 36-7 win at River Oaks School Oct. 11. Last week’s scheduled game against Chamberlain Hunt Academy was canceled because Chamberlain Hunt dropped football before the season began.

“That’s not how you want to start the playoffs,” Loy said. “Chamberlain Hunt dropped football so late that we weren’t able to fill the slot. We practiced all week thinking we would play (tonight).”

As a small silver lining, WCCA agreed to travel to Trinity tonight for a controlled scrimmage. Chamberlain Hunt was scheduled to play the Rams this week, giving WCCA an open date.

“It won’t be an actual game, but at least we’re getting work in against a quality opponent,” Loy said. “Coach (David) Wright was generous enough to come down.”

Loy said the MAIS considers a forfeit as a loss for Tallulah — and thus, a win for Trinity, so the Saints won’t be adversely affected in the power point rankings going into the postseason.

“We should still be the No. 1 seed,” Loy said.

With Tallulah’s forfeit, the Saints now stand at 9-0 overall on the season, 3-0 in district play.