Sitting at 1-3 in district play, Melvin Pete and the Natchez High Bulldogs knew the urgency to win was high.

Despite their best efforts Friday, the Bulldogs fell just short on the road against district foe Brookhaven, 34-32.

“I thought we fought really hard,” Pete said. “It hurt a lot of our players. I’m kind of happy about that, though, because I do want guys to care. When you play your heart out, you are going to care a lot more. I think they will take it as a learning experience.”

Pete said the game was tight, with Natchez (4-5) and Brookhaven (5-4) trading scores the whole way.Pete was also pleased with the play of his freshman quarterback, Chris Scott.

“He did very well, had five touchdowns,” he said. “He was poised and had a fire to make sure we kept our energy up in the game. It is nice to see that from a young kid.”

Scott and the offense was given a tough task dealing with a Brookhaven defense led by Leo Lewis, a four-star Ole Miss commit rated as the number one linebacker in the state.

“We went five wide and spread them out all over the field,” Pete said. “We just chose to stay away from him. We didn’t want to wait and see what he was going to do, we wanted to dictate what he was going to do and I think we did a good job of that.”

Natchez’s next matchup will be another district clash, this time against Pearl River Central who is coming off a 70-12 win.