Dressed in pink jerseys in the third annual Pink Wave Project to honor those who fought cancer, the Green Wave take the field. With Karly in his right arm, Rushing leads his group to the sideline, hoping his team exhibits his fast-start mantra.

The opposite happened.

Cathedral fumbled the opening kickoff, and after three first half turnovers, the Green Wave went into the locker room down 14-7.

Instead of vigorously hammering his team at halftime, Rushing observed the situation and made adjustments, calmly tweaking defensive responsibilities and noting the successful offensive plays — most notably the speed option .

“The bye week hurt us, but we’re OK,” said Rushing, explaining his calm demeanor at halftime.

His team responded. The defense forced three straight three-and-outs to begin the second half, and after two electrifying punt returns by Dee Fleming and Jardarius Anderson, Cathedral scored on back-to-back short fields to take a 21-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

In the midst of a classic, Rushing dialed up his intensity on the sideline, pushing players and putting them in situations to succeed. With a 21-20 lead in the fourth quarter, Rushing thought players, not plays.

“We have to get (Fleming) the ball,” said Rushing before the third quarter. “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

Fleming started getting carry after carry, and on a 46-yard drive, Fleming scored from 10 yards out on a speed sweep, extending Cathedral’s lead to 27-20 after the blocked extra point.

The game was far from over, though, as Resurrection had two minutes to punch in a drive and tie the game from midfield. Up 27-20, Rushing called out to his defense.

“Defense, we need you!” Rushing pleaded. “We need you!”

A minute later, Resurrection scored a touchdown and elected to go for the win on a two-point conversion try. Pressure applied in the backfield flushed Resurrection quarterback Larry Sisson out of the pocket, forcing an incomplete pass. Cathedral recovered the ensuing onside kick, and Rushing’s team stood 4-0 with a win against the highest ranked team on his schedule.

“It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take it,” said Rushing, lifting his visor and wiping the sweat from both sides of his face.