NATCHEZ — A quick glance at the scoreboard might give someone the impression that Trinity had a pretty easy night against Central Private.

But if the scoreboard at Trinity Saints Field had a nose, it would have grown out to the 50-yard line, because the 40-19 final score it showed was a whopper of a tale.

The Saints were in a dogfight for 58 minutes before two interception returns for touchdowns in the final two minutes gave Trinity a 21-point victory.

“That game was certainly much closer than that score indicated,” Trinity coach David King said. “It was a great football game between two outstanding teams. We were just able to make some plays at the end that allowed us to pull away from a very tight football game.”

It was fitting that it was the Trinity defense that sealed the victory for the Saints, because they had played well all night against a deeper team with a powerful running back.

With Trinity clinging to a 26-19 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Saints defense looked worn out as the Rebels drove down to first and goal from the 3-yard line.

However, back-to-back false start penalties pushed the ball back to the 13, and the Trinity defense bowed up, stopping Central Private on four plays.

On fourth and goal from the 12, Central Private quarterback Jason Young bobbled the shotgun snap and was swallowed up by the four Saints defenders with 5:13 remaining.

“We just had to step up,” Trinity defensive lineman Matthew Rymer said of the stand. “We were worn out, but we had to rise up.”

Central Private had one more chance to tie the score after Trinity punted the ball back to them with 4:01 remaining.

However, Fleming stepped in front of a deep sideline pass, tipped the ball to himself, and raced 82 yards for the clinching touchdown with 1:52 remaining.

“We were playing a cover two (defensive alignment) and coach (Richy) Spears was yelling for me to watch No. 18 deep. They had been throwing it to him a lot. So I just stayed with him and made the play.”

Trinity’s defense made one more big play, as Givonni Dent intercepted a screen pass on Central Private’s next possession and returned it 35 yards for a score with 1:23 left.

Fleming said the way the Saints emphasize conditioning and hard work in practice is the reason they were able to hang on and win in the fourth quarter.

“Coach King drills us hard in practice, and it really pays off in the games,” Fleming said. “We run a lot of hills and sprints in practice. Conditioning is mostly what we do. We had a couple of guys cramp up tonight, but our conditioning made us overcome it.”

While the Trinity defense is what saved the Saints in the fourth quarter, the Saints offense dominated play in the first quarter, scoring the first two touchdowns.

The Saints got on the board on their first drive with Dent found Fleming on a 16-yard pass.

After stopping Central Private on fourth and one, the Saints offense struck quickly as Brandon Daggs made a great over-the-shoulder catch of a Dent bomb to give Trinity a 12-0 lead late in the first quarter.

However, a blown defensive assignment gave Central Private its first touchdown on the next play from scrimmage, as quarterback Jason Young found a wide-open Lance Wicker for a 65-yard touchdown pass.

Trinity was able to shake that quick strike off, and score on its next offensive possession, as Fleming scampered in from 23 yards out to put the Saints up 18-7.

Central Private answered that score with a short touchdown drive after stopping the Saints on fourth down at their own 27-yard line.

Travis Richard capped off the short drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to make the halftime score 18-13.

Central Private came out of the halftime locker room with momentum and went on a long touchdown drive, finally punching it in the end zone with 11 seconds left in the third quarter on a 7-yard run by Bobby Muse.

Trinity looked like it was on the ropes, but the passing of Dent and a great play by Fleming gave them the lead back.

Dent completed two quick passes for a first down on Trinity’s next drive, and then flipped a screen pass out to Fleming, who made a man miss and then tightroped the sidelines for a 47-yard score.

Dent hit Jordan Dossett for the two-point conversion that made the score 26-19 less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

Dent finished the game with 236 passing yards and three touchdowns while Fleming had 59 receiving yards, 67 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

“R.J. is just such a big play guy, that you’ve got to get the ball in his hands,” King said of his senior playmaker.

After Trinity’s offense did its part to put the Saints back in the lead, the defense took over from there and preserved the victory.

“That’s why we schedule games like this,” King said. “Besides maybe Centreville, we won’t see another team as physical as they were. That’s really the first game we’ve had to play all four quarters.”