NATCHEZ — If the Trinity Episcopal Day School football players want to win a state title, then who better to hear from than former Saints who have already done so?

That was the mindset of head coach Josh Loy, who is preparing his team for the MAIS Class A state championship against Marshall Academy Saturday at Mississippi College (12-1) in Clinton. Guests have included former Saints coach Jack Benson, who led Trinity to its first state title in 1989, and Kevin Brown, a former player from the undefeated 2010 Saints who won it all.

“They’ve heard me talk for 14 weeks now, so they’re tired of hearing me talk,” Loy said. “I thought it would be good to get some guys in that have won and have been through this before.”

Senior Michael Iles said something Benson talked to the team about has stuck with him as the players prepare for their last game of the season.

“He didn’t talk about winning it in 1989, which is what we thought he would talk about,” Iles said. “He talked about when he was in high school and they lost to Greenville (Christian School). He’s an elderly man, and that’s what he remembers instead of the state championship.”

Because of that, Iles said he doesn’t want to leave Saturday’s game with the same memories.

“I definitely don’t want to have that feeling when I get older,” Iles said. “I have to go out there and win it.”

Despite the extra hoopla surrounding a state title game, Loy said he’s not trying to approach things too differently than he has any other week.

“We’ve scaled things back a little bit to try and freshen their legs and keep them as fresh as we can,” Loy said. “It’s the next game — that’s the approach we’ve taken all season, and I don’t see why that would change now.”

In addition to winning a state title, the Saints (12-0) have the chance to go undefeated, but Loy said he isn’t concentrating on the record at the moment.

“We haven’t really talked about the undefeated thing,” Loy said. “Our main concern is finishing the job. Our goal is to win a championship, and we’re right on the doorstep.”

Senior Caleb Cross, who plays linebacker, defensive end and offensive tackle, was on the 2010 state title team as a freshman. Now that he’s a senior, he said he’s hoping for the same results as last time the Saints made it to state.

“The feeling of when I was a freshman and how I’m feeling now is completely different,” Cross said. “I didn’t start and didn’t play much back then, and now I’m playing pretty much every play. It’s a lot better feeling knowing my hard work has paid off.”

Cross, along with teammates Stewart Mallory and Tucker Lewis, sat out of last week’s game for unspecified reasons. Cross said he, Mallory and Tucker are all expected to play Saturday, though only Cross is practicing this week.

“It was horrible,” Cross said of missing last week’s game. “I fought through it knowing my team would go out there and get another win. I had faith, and they pulled it out.”

Iles said the chance at a state title hadn’t sunk in until this week, and since he’s a senior, he wants to make the most of the opportunity.

“You always dream about it when you’re a kid,” Iles said. “It just feels like you’re in a movie — that’s the only way to describe it. I’m definitely going to miss football more than anything, because I’m not going to play in college, so I have to give it all I’ve got.”

Junior tight end and linebacker Quinton Logan said the team’s success is a testament to Trinity’s winning tradition.

“We’re hungry,” Logan said. “Winning is in our blood. We grew up winning football games, and now we have to go out there and give it our all.”

Loy said the key to beating Marshall would be slowing down the Patriots’ passing attack.

“We have to contain their quarterback,” Loy said. “He’s got 53 touchdowns on the year. If we do a good job on him, we’ll have a great opportunity. On offense, we have to do what we always do and spread the ball around and make them defend everyone.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.