By Patrick Murphy

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Cathedral High Green Wave teammembers have been focused on one thing during practices this week: moving forward as they prepare to face the St. Joseph Catholic Bruins on the road Friday.

During this week’s practices, head coach Chuck Darbonne said he wants his team to improve on their execution, which lacked in last week’s 20-0 loss to Bowling Green.

“I would say we didn’t play bad offensively as the scoreboard looked,” Darbonne said. “We’re working hard to fix those mistakes, whether that be whole new play calls or different personnel. You have to make those adjustments.”

Darbonne said he is leaning on his seniors for leadership. To change the mindset of the team, Darbonne said his seniors will change it.

“Our seniors are our leaders of the football team to make sure we’re focused and ready for the next opponent,” Darbonne said. “The only thing we looked back on is to fix mistakes. The kids have confidence in what we do. We have to execute better.”

By executing better, Darbonne said he wants his players to cleanup small technique mistakes and carry the ball better.

Ethan Huff, one of those team leaders, said it’s a weird feeling to be in a leadership position.

“It feels like not too long ago I was a freshman on the line looking up to the seniors,” Huff said. “It’s definitely different the guys work hard.”

To prepare for this game, Huff and other players have been running the hills around D’Evereux Stadium. They would spend five minutes running up and down

Huff said running the hills makes him better conditioned.

“I absolutely love how much time these guys are investing in making themselves the best player they can become,” Darbonne said.

The Bruins come into this game trying to win a game as well. The Bruins lost last week to St. Stanislaus, 46-0. Darbonne said St. Joseph has some talented and skilled players.

“They have a few big linemen. They also had similar issues we had in executing,” Darbonne said. “I expect them to make a jump from week one to week two, execution wise. We were both in the same boat. We both played some good teams. We’re trying to do a good job this week in staying focused on what we have to do, instead of freelancing.”

After losses such as last week’s loss, Huff tells his players to look up.

“They can’t look down. I always give them a pat on the back,” Huff said. “Whenever they do good, I always congratulate them and tell them, ‘Good job!’”

The Green Wave look toward winning its first game of the season when they travel to Madison. Kickoff is set to start at 7 p.m.