NATCHEZ — The Cathedral soccer team would much rather not travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a playoff game this year, but in order for that to happen, they have to get a win on a trip to Jackson Tuesday night.

The Green Wave will travel up I-55 to take on Richland in the first round of the 1A-3A South State playoffs.

Should Cathedral win, they would host a second round game, most likely against a team from the coast, where they have had to travel the last few years.

“We’re tired of going down there,” Cathedral soccer coach Rick Simons said. “It’s too long of a trip.”

Cathedral finished runner-up in its district while Richland won theirs, but Simons expects a very tight contest between two evenly-matched teams.

“We played a very similar schedule as them,” Simons said. “The teams they beat we beat by about the same margin and the teams they lost to we lost to by about the same margin. It will come down to which team shows up to play. Anything can happen on a given night.”

Cathedral was actually supposed to play Richland twice this season, but had to take them off the schedule due to a mandate from the MHSAA for schools to take four games off their schedule, beginning with the team farthest away.

Cathedral was denied the district championship when Franklin County scored two goals off of corner kicks last Tuesday, and Simons said that is something the Green Wave have been working on in practice.

“How we defend corner kicks and set pieces will be very important,” Simons said. “A lot of times, that is what determines the outcome, especially in playoff games.”

Simons said it will be important for his defense, especially Harrison Burns and Kris Griffiths to play well along with goalkeeper Aaron Sandifer.

“I’m expecting the defense to step up a couple notches and not give up any fouls in the back third of the field,” Simons said. “It’s on Harrison Burns. He has to take control of the defense and make sure they don’t do anything stupid in their area.”

Simons said he expects a low-scoring game with plenty of defense.

“Whoever executes on set pieces will have the advantage,” Simons said. “Hopefully we can get an early goal and take control with our midfield.”