MERIDIAN — If confidence and the will to win were all it took to get a victory, the Natchez High Bulldogs would be celebrating a watershed win over No. 2 ranked Meridian.

But unfortunately for Natchez, it all comes down to execution, something the Bulldogs were unable to do in the final two minutes of a 24-20 loss to the Wildcats.

Natchez had four plays from inside the Meridian 10-yard line in the final two minutes, but couldn’t punch it in after a fourth down pass fell incomplete with 1:48 remaining.

“I was 100 percent confident we’d be able to get the ball in the end zone,” Natchez coach Lance Reed said. “This group has been in those situations before. We just fell a little short tonight.”

Natchez had its final chance at victory after the Bulldogs recovered a Meridian fumble at midfield with less than five minutes remaining.

A couple of long runs put the Bulldogs at first and goal at the Wildcats 9-yard line.

Two runs gained just three yards, and quarterback Javon Washington’s next two passes were incomplete, allowing Meridian to escape with the hard-fought victory.

“We’ve got to go back and look at our mistakes and get better from them,” Reed said. “But I was very pleased with the way the guys fought.”

Far from being intimidated by the raucous crowd at Meridian’s Ray Stadium, the Bulldogs seemed to welcome the atmosphere, and jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter.

Washington scored the first touchdown on a 16-yard run, and Damion Williams scored the second Bulldog touchdown on an eight-yard run.

Washington finished the game with 106 yards rushing an 143 yards passing.

After Meridian got on the scoreboard late in the first quarter on an Antoinne Adkins 24-yard run, Natchez responded quickly.

The Bulldogs worked the halfback pass to perfection, as Derrian Johnson threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Damion Williams on a halfback pass.

Meridian answered back before halftime with a 20-yard touchdown run by Michael Hubbard to make the halftime score 20-14.

Meridian took its first lead of the game in the third quarter when Dequan Anderson scored on a nine-yard run.

The only scoring of the fourth quarter was a 27-yard field goal by Luke Stanley.

However, the score could have been much worse had the Natchez defense not stopped Meridian three times inside the 20-yard line.

“They got put in tough situations, but bowed up and held them,” Reed said of his defense. “It was very impressive, but we’ve got to find a way to keep ourselves out of those desperate situations.”

Natchez dropped to 0-1 in district play with the tough loss, and will hit the road again next week to take on Oak Grove.

“If you don’t have perfect preparation, you can come up short,” Reed said. “We’re going to go back to work and get ready for a solid Oak Grove team next week.”