NATCHEZ — The second season will begin Friday night for three area Mississippi Private School Association teams while another team will be playing for a championship. All games will start at 7 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal will not be taking an undefeated record into the playoffs after getting hammered by rival Centreville Academy 36-8 last week. What was supposed to have been a hotly-contested battle between the Saints and Tigers turned out to be just the opposite.

Instead, the 10-1 and District 3-AA champion Saints will host District 4-AA runner-up Simpson Academy in the first round of the Class AA South State Playoffs. The Cougars will go into this contest with an 8-2 record and a three-game winning streak. They finished 3-1 in their district, losing only to Brookhaven Academy 20-14 in Week 6.

Trinity head coach David King sat out four of his starters due to minor injuries — Jackson Bryant, Larry Calcote, R.J. Fleming, and Kent King. Even though neither team had anything to play for, he felt like his team could have played much better than it did against Centreville.

The defending Class AA state champion Tigers, on the other hand, couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start as they scored touchdowns on their first four offensive possessions before both teams put their second-string players in in the second quarter.

“We had talked all week and we knew that Trinity wasn’t going to play several of their starters. Our kids came out and knew what we needed to do,” Centreville assistant coach Brian Stutzman said.

Hunter Brabham and Zack Sinclair combined for three touchdowns in the first half for Centerville, but it was the play of backup quarterback Tyler Towles that was perhaps unexpected. Towles had 113 yards rushing on 12 carries, including a 77-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve got a good young ninth-grade bunch. Tyler had been hurt most of the year in junior high football. But he got well and he did a good job. He and Hunter Travis and Brodie Lafontaine are all ninth-graders,” Stutzman said.

Centerville, which finished second behind Central Private in District 5-AA will take a 9-2 record and a seven-game winning streak into the first round when it hosts 7-3 River Oaks, which finished in second place behind Trinity in District 3-AA.

“It’s going to be a tough game. River Oaks is a classy team. They run a lot of spread offense. Their quarterback is the key. He throws the ball a lot and runs. It’s going to be tough to contain the way they spread the field,” Stutzman said.

He noted that this will be the first-ever meeting between Centreville and River Oaks in football and he said he doesn’t know what kind of defense to expect from the Mustangs. He also said that the Tigers will not do anything different offensively or defensively.

“They have a player that’s 6-4, 290 that takes up the line of scrimmage. Their defensive line has been dominant from what we’ve seen,” Stutzman said. “They’ve got good skill people all the way around. They’re good and they’re athletic.”

Huntington, which finished in second place in District 6-A, will host District 4-A runner-up Newton County Academy. The Hounds finished the regular season at 8-3 thanks to a 30-26 come-from-behind win over Class AA Columbia Academy while the Generals upended Prentiss Christian 47-14.

“I was pleased with the effort in the second half. It was the first time they came out and played like they should in the second half,” Harkins said.

Although Newton County Academy will take a 6-4 record into the playoffs, Huntington head coach Chad Harkins knows the Hounds cannot take them lightly.

“They lost to Wayne Academy by a point and they lost to Sylva-Bay, which is undefeated. They turned the ball over a total of seven times in those games,” Harkins said.

“They have a real good running back/wide receiver, No. 5 (Hunter Smith), and they have another receiver No. 14 (Anthony Williams), who’s a good player. He has good hands and catches the ball well,” he said. “They line up in several different defenses. They’ll put two or three down lineman. They run a 5-front, a 4-front and a 6-front.”

Harkins added that the Hounds’ offense will continue to what it’s been doing all season.

“Whatever they (Generals) put in front of us, the line will make some adjustments with its blocking,” he said.

Tensas Academy will host the MPSA 8-Man Football Bowl Championship game at 7 p.m. Friday against Calvary Christian School of Meridian.

The Chiefs went 8-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 in District 2 (South) in their first-ever season playing 8-man football. The Cougars started 0-2 before winning their final eight games.

Calvary Christian ended going to the Bowl Championship game after Kemper Academy upset Central Academy of Macon 34-32 last week to make all three teams 3-1 in District 2 (North). Step 3 of the MPSA tiebreaker – point differential between the three teams – was used and the Cougars had the biggest of the three at plus-10.

These two teams are no strangers to each other. Tensas Academy defeated Calvary Christian 56-32 at home back on Aug. 22.

Adams County Christian School and Wilkinson County Christian Academy finished their regular seasons with tough losses. The Rebels finished 1-10 after falling to Riverdale Academy 20-13 while the Rams lost to then-winless Amite School Center 31-18 to finish with a disappointing 3-8 record.