UTICA — Cathedral High School jumped out to a 34-12 lead at halftime and held on to win 40-30 against Hinds Agricultural High School in Mississippi High School Activities Association Division 4-1A play Friday night.

Green Wave head coach Ron Rushing said his team’s sluggish play in the second half was a result of his playcalling.

“We jumped out on them and really played well,” Rushing said. “We threw well in the first half, and I kind of got away from what we are (in the second half). We slowed the ball down and tried to control the clock, and that’s not the kind of offense we are.

“We stalled for a quarter and a half and didn’t get in a rhythm, but we made plays late in the game when we had to and pulled it out.”

The Thomas Garrity-Jardarius Anderson combo proved to be lethal again, with Anderson pulling in 11 passes for 219 yards and three touchdowns for the Green Wave. Garrity finished 23 of 42 in passing with five touchdowns and three interceptions.

Cathedral (3-1, 1-1) scored first on a James Allen Coley 1-yard pass from Garrity with 7:19 left in the first quarter. Hinds AHS responded with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Taedrin Warnsley to Derrius West with 3:28 left in the first.

Cathedral got on the board again with 1:32 left in the first when Anderson caught his first touchdown of the game on an 11-yard reception.

In the second quarter, Christian Jenkins scored for Cathedral on a 1-yard run with 5:33 left in the half. Less than a minute later, Anderson caught a 30-yard pass from Garrity with 4:34 to go. Anderson followed up with his final touchdown of the game on a 21-yard reception with 1:16 left in the half.

Right before intermission, Zadarious Morgan caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left to make it 34-12 at the break.

In the third quarter, Jamar Williams had a 74-yard touchdown run for Hinds AHS. Cathedral scored its final touchdown with 6:10 left in the fourth on a 60-yard reception by Ishmael Blackmon.

Hinds AHS scored its final two touchdowns on runs by Warnsley and Williams for 69 and 27 yards, respectively.

“I was really, really proud of the way we played,” Rushing said. “In this region, if you can go on the road and win a ball game, it’s good.”

Jenkins led Cathedral in rushing with 73 yards on 20 carries. Blackmon finished with two catches for 77 yards, and R.J. Givens had five receptions for 39 yards.

On defense, Rodney Hall had eight tackles for the Green Wave, and Ty Brown tallied seven tackles. Zach Flattmann, who finished with 21 yards rushing on five attempts, also had six tackles on defense. Jacob Pankha tallied five tackles for Cathedral.

Cathedral (3-1, 1-1) will play at Resurrection Catholic School next Friday.