NATCHEZ &045; As if the district schedule wasn’t brutal enough.

Trinity Episcopal has the non-district portion of its slate to worry about, namely its matchup Friday night against a tough Tri-County team. Then it’s back to District 4-AA play the following week in a trip to Centreville &045; just furthering the notion that someone on the scheduling committee may have had it out for the Saints.

Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. in Flora as MPSA schools enter Week 6.

&uot;They’ve got a No. 1 ranking, and they deserve it,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;You’d think with the conference we have we’d have a few breathers in non-conference, but we’ve got the No. 1 team in the state. The last four or five years both of us have been in the top five. We’ve both got a lot of tradition.&uot;

Trinity will match up against a Tri-County offense that’s the leading cause of its top-ranking in the state in Class A. With quarterback John Mark Johnson at the helm and Drew Posey at running back, the Rebels have scored at least 35 points each game and pounded Union Academy last week 55-0.

The Rebels also took care of Tensas Academy in Week 2, 41-27.

&uot;They’ve got a lot of good athletes,&uot; King said. &uot;Their quarterback is extremely good, and they’ve got a couple of 300-pounders on the line. I think they’re going to line up and come right over us, but they’ve got a quarterback who can throw. (Head coach) Bo Milton does a great job, and they’ve been successful for a while. They’re going to play solid, fundamental football.&uot;

The Saints and their limited number of players have overcome the obstacles in recent weeks, including their 33-14 win over Prairie View on Friday night for their third win of the season.

The offense remains centered around a strong running game with sophomore Stevan Ridley, but it’s a unit that is slowly becoming diversified with quarterback Zach Rogel and fullback Cap White.

While the Rebels have scored a ton of points this season, they have also given up their fair share. If that’s the case, the two teams could be locked in a high-scoring battle Friday night in Flora.

&uot;I think people keep waiting for us to fold the tent, and we keep finding a way to get wins,&uot; King said.

Copiah at Adams Christian

NATCHEZ &045; The game films don’t lie. It’s the first thing that Adams Christian head coach Keith Walters picked up on while watching the Colonels on tape, and it’s pretty distinctive over last year.

The Colonels are no longer pushovers.

&uot;Coach (Mitch) Mitchell has done a great job of improving them,&uot; Walters said. &uot;They’re having a good year. This is a big one for us. Copiah really struggled last year, they’ve improved. They’re very sound (defensively) and very aggressive. People had a hard time running the football on them.&uot;

The contest is a big one for the Rebels, who sit 1-0 in District 3-AA play after their win over Prairie View two weeks ago. Fortunately for them some players on the offensive side are back healthy, namely receiver Ray Simpson.

Simpson caught a touchdown pass last week in his first game against Huntington, and the Rebels were able to get back to scoring a bunch of points. But the offense lost another to a season-ending knee injury when Taylor Foster went down with a knee injury.

&uot;Last week we were the closest to healthy as we’ve been all year,&uot; Walters said. &uot;Ray is still not 100 percent, but we were glad to have him back. It’s given us a chance to be a little more diversified than we were three weeks ago. We’ve got receivers back healthy, but we’ve still got to block well.&uot;

Tallulah at Huntington

FERRIDAY, La. &045; Injuries took a heavy toll on the Hounds last week at Adams Christian, but it may not be as bad as it seems as they return to District 7-A play this week.

Linemen Alex Willis is out with a hip flexor, and Kameron Cupit will sit with a knee injury. But Austin Butler will likely play on Friday, and the Hounds may have quarterback Huston Eliser back after he missed the last couple of games.

The Hounds moved up five players off junior high this week.

&uot;Any time you put new people in spots, it’s almost like starting over,&uot; Huntington head coach Bo Swilley said. &uot; Now they’re learning something else. You can run the same offense, but when you have four guys at different spots, it’s just a different situation for them.

WCCA at Union

WOODVILLE &045; The Rams haven’t won since opening the season with a 13-6 win over Porter’s Chapel, and part of that has been due to tough scheduling. But fortunately for them their 1-4 overall mark is as good or better than everyone in District 6-A.