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NATCHEZ — Cathedral (3-5) came a point shy of beating Central Hinds Academy last Friday. 

They look to reverse their luck against Silliman Institute (2-6) this week.

It will be the Wildcat’s homecoming, which brings challenges. However, Green Wave head coach Chuck Darbonne said his team is starting to get used to the organized chaos that comes with homecoming games. 

“It gets a little bit off schedule time-wise,” Darbonne said. “It creates a challenge because it creates the mindset someone scheduled you as a homecoming. Our kids take it as a challenge. Last week, we came up a couple of plays short. They took it head-on as a challenge. I think mentally we are going to be ready.”

In practice, Darbonne and assistant coach Andrew Beesley took turns at quarterback as Noah Russ and Paxton Junkin received treatment. The two played quarterback against Central Hinds last week and took the day to rehab, he said. 

Russ should be cleared before the end of the week and Junkn is good to go, he said. If something would happen, they have other players who could step up in the quarterback spot.

“I didn’t want to take development from other kids in their reps,” Darbonne said. “I can’t hit those long balls, but I can still throw it short.”

Silliman Institute runs a wide variety of schemes, packages and formations, he said. For example, they run the Maryland I, which has three backs behind the quarterback. Silliman also runs a diamond formation, similar to a Pistol or Shotgun formation but with three backs instead of one or two. 

He said the coach has shifted to more of a passing scheme but it is still possible they could run out of their non-typical formations. Cathedral is having to shift focus to a pass-heavy offense after playing run heavy teams the last few weeks, he said. 

“They have two pretty good receivers we will have to keep in check,” Darbonne said. “They have a big tall vertical threat at wideout and a good slot receiver,” “they have pretty good players. They seem like their goal is to throw the ball. The past few weeks we have faced running teams. So far their DNA is throwing the ball. They could change course real quick.”

With three games left on the schedule, this time of year is crunch time for the Green Wave. 

“It’s a must win now to get in the playoffs,” Darbonne said. “We are fighting for the last couple of playoff spots. This is a must win to be able to go. This is the most important one.”

Slliman and Cathedral kick off at 7 p.m. in Clinton, Louisiana Friday night.