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WAYNESBORO — Cathedral High School Green Wave combined a strong passing and running game to claim a 34-14 victory over Wayne County on the road Friday night in the first game of the 2020 season.

Also, contributing to the victory was Cathedral’s defense.

Noah Russ shined in his quarterback debut as he threw for two touchdowns and rushed for a touchdown. The first touchdown for Russ came in the first quarter for 42-yards to Christian Wright. The duo would connect for another touchdown in the second quarter for 32-yards. Russ also ran for a 2-yard touchdown.

“It was a pretty good season debut,” Russ said. “I was a little nervous going into it, but I settled down as the game went on.”

Bryson Moore and Kaden Batieste combined for 192 yards in the game. Moore ran for 115 yards while Batieste ran for 77 yards with a 39-yard touchdown in the first half and a 2-yard touchdown in the second half.

“We have a good senior offensive linemen in Jones Richardson, Ayden Rojo and Aiden Whitaker,” said Chuck Darbonne, Cathedral head coach. “We had huge holes for Moore and Batieste to run through.”

The defense for the Green Wave only allowed approximately five first downs in the game. The Jaguars scored two touchdowns in the second half; the first one was a 2-yard touchdown by Kaden Johnston in the fourth quarter and another rushing touchdown to end the game.

Both Batieste and Christian Wright each had an interception in the game.  KJ Washington was able to sack Cross Kittrell, Wayne Academy’s quarterback, in the first half. Darbonne said the first-string defense had a lot of repetitions in practices to prepare for the game.

Cathedral (1-0) will play at 7 p.m. next Friday at Bowling Green School at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit.