NATCHEZ — Friday night football in the Natchez area included a host of questionable penalty calls that caused local teams to struggle.

At Natchez High, for example, the Bulldogs were penalized 24 times for 191 yards, 18 of which came in the second half. Opponent Franklin County was charged with five flags for 45 yards.

“We weren’t very happy with the penalties at all. No one can be,” said Natchez coach Lance Reed. “Watching the film, we felt like some were kind of questionable, but some were definitely good calls. I definitely felt like something wasn’t very right about as many penalties as they called.”

But Reed did not use the number of flags as an excuse for their 21-19 loss to the other Bulldogs. He blamed it mostly on turnovers — including two lost fumbles and two interceptions — and the great second-half play of Franklin County.

“Momentum is a big thing in football,” he said. “The penalties and some stuff you just can’t control, but you can’t go out and cry about the refs. It’s important that you take responsibility for the mistakes that happen. It forced us back to doing the little things, which is what we’ve talked about all along.”

Natchez had an early lead as quarterback Javon Washington connected with Rico Richardson for a 41-yard score in the Bulldogs’ first play. They had two chances to extend the lead but turned it over on downs both times, although they did score again to end the half.

Richardson opened the third quarter with a 77-yard kickoff return, but a failed two-point conversion seemed to turn the tide of the game.

Franklin County scored on their first drive and then again five minutes later as Natchez failed on a fake punt attempt from midfield.

“It was a bad call on my part that put us in real bad field position,” Reed said. “I signaled in the wrong signal, and I took full responsibility on that one.”

The Bulldogs scored immediate with an 18-yard run, then a fumble by Richardson in Natchez’ end zone gave them the ball right back. They scored in just six plays.

Franklin County coach Trent Hammond said this team did not change anything for the second half.

“In the first half we played with absolutely no emotion. We didn’t hit, we didn’t block. We just didn’t make plays in first half,” he said. “We just talked about playing the way were capable of playing. We had not played the way we did in the first three weeks.”

Hammond said he learned some promising things about his team under fire, noting that a 19-point deficit is a scary place to be.

He said the penalties had nothing to do with the win.

“We can do some things to put ourselves back in the ballgame. Anytime you play from that kind of deficit, you learn — not so much about where you want to be at the beginning because no one wants to be down by 19 points — but you learn something about your team as far as character and the desire to win.”

Franklin County running back Jordan Hunt went down with a knee injury early in the game, and Hammond had no further update on the injury Saturday.

Cathedral also struggled with some penalty calls in its 31-28 homecoming loss to St. Aloysius.

There were at least three missed facemasking plays that should have been called on St. Al, and only of about three horse-collar tackles was noticed.

But Cathedral coach Craig Beesley’s biggest concern came at a crucial time at the end of the game, as the Green Wave had just taken a four-point lead with 1:17 left.

After a botched kickoff, St. Aloysius drove the ball to the 11-yard line. Flashes quarterback Chris Lewis was being tackled and either fumbled the ball or threw it to the ground. The Green Wave picked it up, but the referees called an incomplete pass, bringing up fourth-down and 10, where St. Aloysius scored to win the game.

I am still concerned about what I thought was intentional grounding in the series before,” Beesley said. “That could have been a big break that goes our way. It’s frustrating for the kids there, as hard as they worked in the second half.

The Wave had come from a 21-7 deficit at halftime to go ahead 28-24.

“We just tried to hold on in the first half. They totally took it to us — the whole first half was in their favor. Then for us to come back and tie it up going into fourth quarter, we thought we could have had a couple breaks.”

But another questionable call, this time by Beesley, could have made a difference in the game as well. Cathedral had possession at the end of the second quarter, and instead of kicking a field goal on the 10-yard line on fourth down, they opted for a pass, which was intercepted.

“The way the game was going, it looked like we weren’t going to get many chances,” he said. “We felt like we needed a touchdown there instead of three points. At that point in the game I would have done the same thing again.”

Jefferson County coach James Herrington was also a bit curious about the reffing Friday night in their 20-12 win against Amite County.

“I take away nothing from what (Amite County) did. They played hard all the way through, they capitalized off our mistakes we made,” he said. “But it was a kind of an iffy game on the calls last night. Our guys were penalized close to 15 times last night in key situations. Yet somehow Amite County seemed to stay mistake-free all the way through four.”

Jefferson County scored all three touchdowns on shaky quarterback Jeffrey Collins, who went just 4-for-24.

Block High school lost its game to Jena, 27-26, on an overturned call on a two-point conversion by the Bears.

Block had scored on its first three offensive plays, but a knee injury to offensive tackle Ethan House changed the momentum of the game.