NATCHEZ — Cathedral High School had to go without one of its standout playmakers in the Green Wave’s 17-14 win against rival St. Aloysius Friday.

Ishmael Blackmon, who missed much of last season with a shoulder injury, tweaked his hamstring in a jamboree game against Wilkinson County Christian Academy the previous week.

Head coach Ron Rushing said despite not having his No. 1 scoring threat, he didn’t approach the St. Al game any differently from an offensive standpoint.

“I expect to have Ishmael back (this) week,” Rushing said. “It didn’t affect our game plan any. St. Al did a good job. They came out and manned us up, and I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Green Wave quarterback Thomas Garrity said he would prefer having Blackmon on the field with him, but he wasn’t willing to use that as an excuse for the team’s offensive struggles.

“Ishmael’s fast; he’s the man,” Garrity said. “He’s one of my best friends, but we have to play with what we have, so when we had him out, some other people had to step up and make the plays.”

Even though his team struggled offensively, the Green Wave defense contained the Flashes to just seven points, with one of St. Al’s touchdowns coming on an interception return. Cathedral’s defense also pitched a shutout in the second half.

“The defense played well,” Rushing said. “They sucked it up and kept (St. Al) out of the end zone in the second half. They stopped them from driving to stay out of field goal range.”

Cathedral (1-0) will host Madison-St. Joe Friday.

Adams County Christian School

Adams County Christian School left it all out on the field Friday against Wilkinson County Christian Academy.

Quarterbacks Tyler Stockstill and Carlos Woods both distributed the ball well, and Lester Wells and Trey Fleming reaped the benefits.

Fleming rushed for 102 yards on five carries with 19 receiving yards on two catches.

Fleming said the night started slowly for him, but he said he felt he rose to occasion.

“In the first quarter, I wasn’t in my right state of mind,” Fleming said. “I guess I had first game jitterbugs, but as the game went on I got into myself.”

Wells rushed for 45 yards on six carries while tallying seven yards on two catches.

Wells said he felt like he could’ve caught a few more passes to help his team’s cause.

“I dropped a few passes, but I’ll catch them the next game,” Wells said.

When it comes to ACCS’s 15 penalties, head coach David King said they had to pick their poison between what the coaches have been teaching, and what the referees are throwing up flags for.

“You want them to be aggressive,” King said. “We preach blocking down field a lot, and a lot of those penalties were receivers blocking down field, but we’ll line all that stuff out.”

Wells said dealing with all of the penalties in a big season opener was frustrating, but playing through the fouls and still grabbing the win showed their maturity.

“We struggled at first with penalties, but we overcame them and persevered,” Wells said.