As the clock ticked toward zero on Friday, there were all sorts of indications that it had been another rough night for Porters Chapel.

The scoreboard showed a 30-0 deficit to Trinity. Some players limped off the field with injuries while others sat, exhausted, on the bench and stared into the distance. It was PCA’s third consecutive loss, all by 30 points or more, and the physical and mental fatigue of a lost half-season of football showed.

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Friday, 7 p.m. – At Veritas

Somewhere in the ashes, though, there was reason for optimism. The Eagles held one of the top teams in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools to 256 yards of offense — 27 less than they had allowed in the first half of the previous week’s loss. The defensive line registered two sacks and contained, for the most part, explosive tailback R.J. Fleming.

And now there’s an entire week to rest and prepare for the second half of the season, which begins Oct. 2 with a must-win district game at Russell Christian. PCA (2-3) was originally scheduled to play Veritas this week, but earned a forfeit win when Veritas switched from 11-man to 8-man football prior to the season.

“We started getting more serious at practice and coming together as a team,” said defensive end Zach Rachal, who had a team-high 12 tackles against Trinity. “We just started playing harder. Playing like we’re supposed to.”

Trinity (4-0) jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the lopsided win expected in a matchup of teams heading in different directions was slow to materialize. A high punt snap that sailed out of the end zone for a safety was the only scoring in the second quarter, and Trinity salted the game away with one touchdown in each of the last two quarters.

The Saints did have the ball inside the PCA 10-yard line in the final minute, but opted to kneel on the ball and turned it over on downs. It was hardly a shutdown effort by PCA’s defense, but it did draw some praise from their opponents.

“Their linemen gave a push and they blitzed every play. They were successful for a few drives. They’re one of the better defensive teams we’ve seen,” said Fleming, who finished with 160 rushing yards and two touchdowns — one of them a 96-yarder.

The trick now is for the Eagles to take the positives from this loss into the rest of the season. They’ll have two weeks to prepare for Russell Christian, who they must beat to stay alive for a playoff berth. Having a district game on the other side of the bye will help PCA focus, senior tight end Reed Gordon said.

“District games are always big for us. Every district game is like the Super Bowl for us,” Gordon said.

More importantly, the extra week will give them a chance to heal from the rash of injuries that have struck nearly every player on the roster.

Two players, tailback Jay Wiley (torn anterior cruciate ligament) and fullback John Michael Harris (complications from diabetes) are out for the rest of the season. Wiley was the team’s top rusher and tackler when he hurt his knee against River Oaks two weeks ago.

“We’ve got a lot of people hurt. We can get everybody back, hopefully,” Rachal said. “We’ve just got to start playing better and playing hard every play, and not take plays off.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com