Congratulations to Coach Lance Reed and his Natchez High Bulldogs, who played their way into the state playoffs by beating region rival Wingfield Friday night.

It will be the first play off appearance for Natchez High since 1997. The Bulldogs set their season record at 6 – 3 (4 – 2 in region play) and will likely be on the road for their first round play off game.

Trinity saw its unbeaten season end Friday night at the hands of strong Centreville Academy. Last year, Trinity beat Centreville in the regular season only to see the tables reversed in the playoffs. Maybe this year the Saints can return the favor.

Both coaches in Friday’s Trinity vs. Centreville game apparently agreed to a running clock in the second half. The hope is to avoid injuries as the teams head into the playoffs.

A running clock is a two-sided sword. In the one case, whether to avoid injuries or to shorten a game because of a lopsided score, the avoidance of injuries is a good cause.

On the other hand, most coaches will use the opportunity of a lopsided game to gain playing time for their reserves. A shortened game often means fewer players get game experience.

An example was the Madison Central vs. Grenada game a couple of weeks ago. With Madison Central’s Jaguars holding a substantial lead, the opposing coach and the officials suggested running the clock to shorten the game.

Madison Central’s coach, with a traveling squad of about 90 players, wanted the opportunity to let many of those kids see some playing time. Even though the group wanting the shortened game prevailed, most of the Madison Central traveling squad saw some action, but not as much as a game of that type would normally provide.

Last Friday night the Madison Central team beat a good Northwest Rankin squad 42-22. The contest was a key Region 5-5A game with the winner claiming the Region championship.

As both teams will be in the playoffs, about the only real question was which would have to play South Payola first. In order for either team to advance to the State Championship game at Veteran’s Stadium, that team will have to eventually beat South Panola along the line.

One of the keys to the successful Madison Central season is junior quarterback Peyton Johnson. As I have written, Johnson’s father is Bill Johnson, who grew up in Vidalia and was a state-class swimmer as a youth. He is now a tennis pro in Jackson.

Young Johnson’s grandparents are Charles and Carla Johnson of Natchez, and Tom and Sue Purvis, also of Natchez. Charles Johnson was a Southeastern Conference champion sprinter at LSU, and retired physician Tom Purvis played football on Southern Mississippi’s championship 1958 team. One of my grandsons, DeFoe West, is Madison Center’s starting center, and he and quarterback Johnson have had no mishandled snaps this season or last, when both were sophomore starters.

I see that Cathedral’s region rivals continue to win big. Mount Olive, Bogue Chitto and Puckett all won by large margins, and some consider that a couple of other Class 1A regions are stronger.

Not even instant replay is always clear. In Saturday’s Ole Miss win over Auburn, a late Ole Miss fumble ruling was overturned by the replay officials, It appeared clear to me that the field officials’ fumble ruling was correct. But what do I know?

And, that’s official.

Al Graning writes a weekly column for The Democrat.