NATCHEZ &045; During those grueling two-a-day workouts in the early August heat, David Trisler had his senior season all planned out in his head.

He was going to work to be the best possible receiver he could be to help out an offense that was going to have some firepower.

And if the defense called on him, he’d do his best to tackle somebody.

Trisler was the designated backup at all four positions in the Adams Christian secondary to start the season, but things changed quickly. As injuries started to mount on the Rebels’ defense &045; particularly in the secondary &045; the guy who wasn’t anticipating playing much defense was suddenly becoming a leader back there in moving from cornerback to safety and calling coverages.

&uot;I thought I was going only on offense and a little on defense if they got tired,&uot; said Trisler who ended the year with 48 tackles and three interceptions. &uot;It was hard switching from corner to safety and having to learn what coverages to call in certain situations and make sure everybody lined up right. The coaches made sure I knew what was going on. They made sure I knew exactly what to call.&uot;

All that came in midseason after the three starters in the secondary went down at one point, but Trisler did like the coaches and players did at Adams Christian this past season &045; they just refused to give in. With the offense in transition due to injuries to Bradford, Dustin Case, Ray Simpson, Heath Williams, James Sullivan, Patrick Womack and others, the defense improved as the season went on and kept the team in games.

Trisler, Womack and linebacker Brock Vines earned spots on the 2004 All-Metro first team for their efforts as the Rebels made the playoffs for the second straight year, a first in school history.

&uot;I thought it was one of the major improvements as a team that we made,&uot; said former head coach Keith Walters, who was fired two weeks after the Rebels’ 14-0 loss to Centreville in the playoffs. &uot;David is a good example &045; he stepped in there at free safety just like a lot of kids had to do. Defensively, we bent more than we would have liked to, but by the end of the year we did a better job.

&uot;You can do what you want to do &045; we always believed you have to get off the block, run to the ball and tackle. No matter how you line up, that’s the most important.&uot;

The three players were leaders defensively on a team that still managed to improve significantly despite the injuries it faced on a weekly basis and a switch from a five-man front to a split-four.

The defense kept the team in it in losses in three of the last four games &045; a 21-7 loss to Central Hinds in the District 3-AA championship, a 22-15 loss to a Brookhaven team that put 34 points on Centreville and the playoff loss to Centreville that was mainly the result of two big plays.

&uot;I think we got better as the year went,&uot; said Womack, a three-year starter who was second on the team in tackles with 74. &uot;Our offense didn’t do that great at the first of the year, but it got better. I don’t think it was as bad as triple-A, but we kind of missed not having a couple people back this year. I think we should have played a lot better than we did. It was a lot of injuries &045; that’s what mainly happened to us.&uot;

Injuries set in midway through the season, and about the worst it got was a 39-3 loss at Oak Forest. The Yellow Jackets were a talented club that made it to South State, but the Rebels came away from that game knowing turnovers in the second quarter caused most of the damage.

In the second half Oak Forest scored just two touchdowns, and from there the Rebels gave up no more than three touchdowns in a game.

&uot;I think at the start of the year we had a couple of new people &045; me and Joey (Wilson) &045; and we weren’t used to playing with each other,&uot; said Vines, a Cathedral transfer who led the team with 103 tackles at linebacker. &uot;As we started playing as a team, we started playing better. We just had to play (through the injuries). We had to suck it up and do what we had to do. We had to play spots we weren’t used to playing and had to move people around. We did a whole lot better later in the year.&uot;

The new alignment was a hurdle for the coaches &045; Walters admitted he’s always been a 50 guy &045; along with some younger players coming up. The entire season was also a transition in the simple fact it was playing without middle linebacker Luke Ogden, the main cog in the defense in 2003.

&uot;Patrick is what I call a motor guy &045; he’s just wide open,&uot; Walters said. &uot;If he made a mistake, it wasn’t because he wasn’t wide open. They’ll miss him. The split was a pretty big change, but Brock played it at Cathedral. David is a really smart guy. We just didn’t have a lot of depth there, and David wasn’t supposed to play that much on defense. He had a lot of calls to make, and it was pretty hard on him.

&uot;I was really proud of them. We didn’t lead the state in defense, but I thought for the most part we really improved there.&uot;

Vines is the only returner of the three, but he’ll be flanked by others who picked up significant playing time this season. Simon Sullivan, Tel Faulkner and Eric Perry played a bunch up front on the line, and Timmy Foster will anchor the offense at quarterback.

Now the team looks to 2005 with a new coach stepping in but with a nice amount of momentum after the Rebels posted their first winning record in the regular season since 1989.

&uot;It wasn’t really a surprise (to make the playoffs),&uot; Trisler said. &uot;We were disappointed because we didn’t win the district championship. That would have been a huge accomplishment for us. I don’t remember the last time we had consecutive playoff appearances, and it felt good to be a part of that. Football here is starting to get better. Before nobody really cared because we lost for a while.&uot;