NATCHEZ — Beating a team twice is tough to do and beating a good team twice is a different story altogether.
The Centreville Tigers (12-2) showed that once again as they defeated the prevoiusly undefeated Trinity Episcopal Saints 35-14 to advance to the MPSA AA State Championship game on Friday against Marshall Academy.
“This bunch is such a scrappy bunch,” Centreville head coach Bill Hurst said. “This team steps up every time we need them to and tonight was no different.”
Trinity was by far the favorite in this game, and Centreville made the big plays.
Those began midway through the first quarter, immediately after a Zach Sinclair 23-yard touchdown run put Centreville out in front 7-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, a host of Tigers caused a fumble that was recovered at the Trinity 27-yard line.
The Tigers went right back to work as Nick Goudeau scored from 9 yards out to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Tiger domination carried over into the second as Adam Perry picked off Parker Brunfield to again give the Tigers great field position.
Centreville went right back to what they do best and that’s run the football. Sinclair scored his second touchdown of the night stretching the Tiger lead to 21-0.
“We came ready to play and I think it showed,” Sinclair said. “Our offensive line, you have to give them credit because they blocked very well tonight.”
The Tiger line continued its dominance as Sinclair scored his third touchdown of the night, this time from 7 yards out to give the Tigers a commanding 29-7 halftime lead.
The second half was a stalemate for the most part, but the Tiger defense continued to dominate the high-powered Trinity offense as Centreville forced five Saints turnovers and never let Trinity find a rhythm on offense.
“We jumped on them quick tonight and I think that surprised them,” defensive lineman Russ Vine said. “We had a good plan and we played very physical football tonight.”
Goudeau iced the game on a 5-yard run with 3:31 left to play setting off a celebration and sending the Tigers to the state championship game.
“We knew our line had to play well to give us a chance tonight,” Hurst said. “We got great movement up front and this is by far the biggest offensive line we have taken to state.”
Behind that great line, Goudeau and Sinclair again had great nights as Goudeau rushed for 113 yards on 22 carries and Sinclair had 99 yards on 24 carries.
Trinity won 36-22 when the two teams faced each other the final week of the regular season.
