NATCHEZ — Trinity might have gone through the regular season with a 10-1 record and won District 3-AA, but they got no favors in the first round of the MPSA Class AA playoffs.

The Saints will host Simpson Academy, which finished second in District 4-AA and sports a strong football tradition.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Saints Field.

“They are an outstanding program,” Trinity coach David King said of the Cougars. “They are a powerhouse football program that’s back on the way up. They missed the playoffs the past two years, but they’re back on top of their game now.”

Simpson brings an 8-2 record into the contest. They started off their season with five consecutive wins before dropping back-to-back games against Brookhaven Academy (20-14) and Wayne Academy (6-3).

However, they recovered to win their final three games, with two of those being shutout victories.

“They are a very good running team and have a very good defense,” King said. “I think we’ve got to force them into some passing downs, because they really like to run the football.”

King said that protecting the ball will be important for the Trinity offense, which is something the Saints didn’t do in their last region game aginst Riverfield.

Trinity fumbled the ball seven times and lost three of those in their 24-14 victory.

“At this time of year, you’ve got to stay away from turnovers,” King said. “At times we’ve done a good job, and at times we’ve turned the ball over. We need to make sure we hold onto the football because field position will be big. We need to make them go long distances (for scores).”

Simpson has a strong defense that is good at stopping the run, which means the Saints will have to open up the offense in order to win, King said.

“We’re going to have to be diverse on offense,” King said. “We have to run it and throw it. They’re not going to let you run it down the field. One thing we have going for us is we can throw it a little bit. We’ll try to get our athletes in open field.”

No matter what happens tonight, King said it has been a great season from a team not many people expected a lot from.

“We’ve had an outstanding year,” King said. “We feel fortunate to still be playing. There’s no pressure on us. We’re going to go out there and let it hang out. We’ll go out and play with a passion, and whatever happens, happens.”