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NATCHEZ — Homecoming 2022 did turn out the way the Cathedral High School Green Wave wanted to as they lost to the Central Hinds Academy Cougars 30-8 Friday night at D’Evereaux Stadium in a pivotal MAIS District 3-5A game for both teams.

With the exception of a long touchdown drive that was capped off by Jake Hairston’s two-yard touchdown run at the 3:08 mark of the second quarter that tied the game at 8-8 after Noah Russ’s two-point conversion pass to Kaden Batieste, not much went right for Cathedral’s offense.

And while Central Hinds’s defense did a good job of tackling, the same could not be said for the Green Wave, who had a tough time trying to bring down the Cougars’ running backs.

“We came out flat. Central Hinds executed very well. I did a poor job of getting us ready offensively,” Green Wave head coach Chuck Darbonne said. “We did not do a good job moving the ball consistently. And I take the blame for that. Defensively in the first half, we missed a lot of tackles.”

Cougars junior quarterback Brady Clark accounted for three total touchdowns. He scored on a one-yard run with 7:39 to go in the second quarter and Trey Kelly’s two-point conversion run gave them an early 8-0 lead.

They would take the lead for good on Clark’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Chavez with 19 seconds left until halftime. Clark’s two-point conversion run gave Central Hinds a 16-8 lead at intermission.

Central Hinds (4-3, 1-2) scored on a two-yard run by Brady Price with 7:47 left in the third quarter. Clark hooked up with Chavez on a six-yard TD pass with 10:40 left in the game.

“In the second half, the defense had a lot of heart. I was very proud of the effort and how we were able to execute on defense in the second half,” Darbonne said.

Cathedral (3-5, 0-2) hosts Silliman Institute for Senior Night in a key District 3-5A game next Friday at 7 p.m. It will also be the Green Wave’s annual Pink Wave Game.