Every team sets its goals high when two-a-days start in the blistering heat in August, but how many of them actually reach them all?

Two teams in the Miss-Lou have that opportunity, and it&8217;s two you never would have thunk it back when everyone got cranked up. Not only is Trinity Episcopal in the playoffs despite playing the role of underdog in many of its district game, but the Saints have a chance to win a district title this week.

Then there&8217;s Natchez High, who with a win Friday night not only snapped a 24-game district losing streak but put themselves in position &8212; if everything goes right &8212; to play for a playoff spot the final week of the season against Hattiesburg.

What a weird season it&8217;s been so far.

Just don&8217;t ask us about our preseason predictions because, quite frankly, we&8217;d like to forget them.

&8220;Our first goal was to have a winning season, and our second goal was to make the playoffs,&8221; Trinity defensive coordinator Matt Mason said. &8220;And we set a goal to win district. We&8217;re going to go out and enjoy going to the playoffs whether we&8217;re 1 or 2.

&8220;This team does a great job of taking it week to week and not overlooking anyone. We had the bad game against Centreville, and I think our guys understand you&8217;ve got to take it week to week. Since then, we&8217;ve been on a roll.&8221;

For the Saints, the win Friday over Brookhaven sewed up the playoff spot and proved any more naysayers wrong after starting the season with a roster size half of some teams in District 4-AA. While the team has relied heavily on the running of Stevan Ridley, it&8217;s taken more than one person to get the job done.

The Saints got big plays from the defense and the offensive front not only Friday night but in each of their last three games &8212; all must-wins after the loss to Centreville.

&8220;Those seniors and the though of being in the playoffs at this level in double-A, it was just a great team effort,&8221; Trinity head coach David King said. &8220;Our line has gotten so much better each week. Guys like Kyle Ketchings have been so important to us on both sides of the ball. We don&8217;t do much complaining about injuries, but that was a huge loss for us. We just had guys step up.&8221;

Said linebacker Wells Middleton: &8220;We use (predictions) as fuel to keep us going. Nobody believed in us, and we wanted to prove everybody wrong.&8221;

Then there are the Bulldogs, who snapped that streak of futility Friday night on the road and showed their first concrete signs of better days are ahead for a program that&8217;s been quite possibly the worst in 5A the last four seasons.

The win over Jim Hill was their first region win since 2001 &8212; not 2000 as indicated in Saturday&8217;s report &8212; when a missed field goal as time expired helped Natchez claim a 15-14 win at Petal. It was reason to celebrate, although head coach Lance Reed noted the congratulatory phone calls didn&8217;t exactly flood in.

&8220;I haven&8217;t gotten too many &8212; they probably thought it was a typo or something,&8221; he joked. &8220;(The win) helps. We&8217;ve struggled the past few weeks, and it&8217;s no fun when you lose. Those kids deserve a victory. It was a great timing for one.&8221;

Now with games against bottom-feeders Forest Hill and Wingfield, the Bulldogs could be in a playoff position the final week of the season with wins the next two weeks. But like last season with the loss to a mediocre Hancock squad, nobody is assuming anything.

&8220;Our program &8212; we&8217;re in no position to underestimate anyone,&8221; Reed said.

&8220;It&8217;s great there&8217;s a chance for the playoffs, but we&8217;ve got to take it one game at a time. We&8217;ve got to prepare and work hard every week of practice. We&8217;ve got to play our best. We still haven&8217;t done that. That&8217;s our goal.&8221;

Others in the Miss-Lou are thinking playoffs with only two or three games remaining. Franklin County&8217;s win over Columbia kept its hopes alive for getting at least a No. 3 seed for the playoffs, and Jefferson County&8217;s pummeling of Raymond sets up a showdown next week against undefeated Hazlehurst.

WCCA is in and will host Claiborne Academy in the first round. And in Louisiana, Ferriday opened district Friday with a win over Madison to close in on its goal of winning the district. Vidalia and Block will play the power points game to get in.

And the best team not in the playoffs? Adams Christian can finish the season 9-2 and not make the playoffs.

That&8217;s a real shame.

FUMBLE? &8212; Brookhaven Academy&8217;s sideline was livid near the end of the third quarter Friday night when the Saints got inside of their 10 but appeared to have fumbled when Stevan Ridley was stripped of the ball.

Officials had to explain the call to head coach Ray Ishee, and when the officials spotted the ball, the Cougars were then called for a delay of game for slapping the football.

That put the ball at the 2, and Ridley ran it in for a score.

&8220;We thought it was a fumble, but the fumble didn&8217;t matter to me,&8221; Ishee said. &8220;The officials didn&8217;t beat us. We beat ourselves.&8221;

The drive was a pivotal one for the Saints, who answered a BA score that had trimmed the lead to seven. The play could have never happened had Ridley not converted a fourth-and-1 on his 3-yard run around the right side.

&8220;We felt like we had to go for it on fourth and short,&8221; King said. &8220;We were goinig to go for any fourth-down plays that were close. This was a game as a coaching staff we went in thinking this was another big-play team. I told Coach Mason at halftime we had to keep a two-score lead. They were just so dangerous to score at any point.&8221;

DEFLATING &8212; Just when the Cougars had something going offensively in the second half with the passing game, the Saints made the adjustment.

And away went BA&8217;s momentum.

Corey Dickerson&8217;s 23-yard pass to sparkplug Price Sessums preceded a 21-yard pass to T-Boy Lynch to spread out Trinity&8217;s defense. Dickerson then ran for 26 yards to set up Sessums&8217; 5-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 21-14.

After the Saints answered that with a score, Dickerson threw incomplete on first down and had a pass picked off across the middle by Wells Middleton a play later. That gave the Saints the ball at the BA 23, and they scored four plays later.

&8220;We couldn&8217;t let (Sessums) get outside and had to keep him inside,&8221; Middleton said. &8220;I dropped back (on the INT). He threw the ball, and I went up there like I was supposed to and made a big interception.&8221;

QB ROTATION &8212; The loss of Collin Dor/ at quarterback could have put WCCA in a world of hurt on offense, but the Rams have picked up the slack.

Sophomore Joseph Landry and Cody Cullen have formed a rotation, and Cullen completed three passes Friday in a win over Huntington. The duo helped the Rams offensively as they claimed the district title for the second straight season and will host Glenbrook to open the playoffs.

&8220;We&8217;re still developing timing,&8221; Rams head coach Paul Hayles said. &8220;(Landry) has a really good arm and throws the ball really well &8212; a lolng ball and a tight, tighut spiral. Just something we haven&8217;t been able to do with the vertical game. Cullen has shown signs of maturity in doing what we tell him. He&8217;s a good enough athlete where he can run the ball well.&8221;