NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School had probably the worst practice Ron Rushing said he’s ever seen Monday.

But with good practices the next few days, the Cathedral head coach said he’s hopeful the positives will carry over into tonight’s Cathedral jamboree matchup against Wilkinson County Christian Academy.

“They kind of dragged around (Monday), then we had two good days of practice Tuesday and Wednesday, so I don’t know what’s in store,” Rushing said.

With WCCA coming to town, Rushing said he’s hoping his players will get after it.

“We don’t have everything in (that we’ll run), but we have a lot,” Rushing said. Hopefully the kids will play hard like they always do.”

The Cathedral jamboree will kick off at 7 p.m. and will feature two 20-minute, running-clock halves between Cathedral and WCCA.

Rams head coach David Wright said he’s looking for his players to establish their new offense tonight against Cathedral.

“We’re going with a pro set, so we’ll be trying to establish more of a passing game than we’ve had in years past,” Wright said. “Getting our timing down between the wide receivers and quarterback will be key.”

The jamboree also serves as a chance to get his players out of the monotonous practice routine and go against players from a different squad.

“I can’t wait to see them compete,” Wright said. “Being a first-year coach and seeing them in live action will be good. I’ve seen them on film, but I’m ready to see them play live with the senior class I’ve got.”

Natchez High jamboree

Natchez High School will host two other area teams for tonight’s jamboree, with Jefferson County facing Amite County at 6 p.m. and Wilkinson County taking on Wingfield at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will round things out with an 8 p.m. matchup against Port Gibson.

“This will be a measurement of what we’ve done the past two weeks,” NHS head coach Lance Reed said. “We want to execute the things we’ve been working on.”

Though some teams might choose not to show much in preseason matchups, Reed said his team would showcase only what his team is ready to showcase.

“We don’t put too much in too early,” Reed said. “What we work on (in the game) is what we’ve installed so far.”

Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown his players are looking forward to tonight’s jamboree after a good fall camp.

“Things had been going well until the first part of this week, when we put on all that gear,” Brown said. “With temperatures like they are, it hasn’t been a lot of fun.”

Brown said he expects to see a double wing offense with some option plays from Wingfield.

“We run it ourselves some, so it’s not like we haven’t seen the double wing,” Brown said.

Jefferson County head coach James Herrington said he’s glad his players don’t have to travel far to get a scrimmage in against another team.

“It saves on gas, plus the coaches in this area network together,” Herrington said. “When they’re having a jamboree or other functions, we try to support each other and help each other build programs.”

Amite County is also a good matchup for the Tigers, since Jefferson County faces them in exhibitions regularly.

“We usually play them in the spring, and we did this past spring,” Herrington said. “They’re not coached by the same guy, so we’re not quite as familiar with what they’re doing now. We’re interested to see how they look.”