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NATCHEZ — Adrian Walker and Sean Kerry Cothern combined to score three rushing touchdowns as the Adams County Christian School Rebels defeated the MAIS District 3-5A and cross-town rival Cathedral High School Green Wave 42-8 on Friday night.

It was Senior Night at Bobby Marks Stadium on the ACCS campus and the Rebels did not disappoint. After receiving the opening kickoff near midfield, it two just two plays for ACCS to find the end zone. Walker, a senior running back, scored on a 43-yard run just 50 seconds into the game and Caleb Daugherty’s extra point made it 7-0.

Rebels senior quarterback Coleman Carter scored on touchdown runs of two and 13 yards later on in the opening quarter to give them a 21-0 lead. Daugherty, a senior kicker, was 6-for-6 on the night on extra points — and two of them came after bad snaps.

It was obvious that ACCS was going to rely on its running attack as the Rebels get ready for the MAIS Class 5A State Playoffs, which begin next week. And that was something assistant coach Matthew Freeman talked about after the game.

“We just felt good about our offensive line. We got a couple of key players back. We felt like we could lean more on the running game,” Freeman said. “We were able to get out in front early and get more comfortable.”

But early in the second reason, for some reason the Rebels went to the passing game against a Cathedral defense that was set on not giving up any big plays through the air. Carter threw a pass that was intercepted by the Green Wave’s Chance Graves. But a few plays later, Cathedral quarterback Tralyn Cusic threw a pass that was intercepted by Cothern.

And it was Cothern who turned that turnover by the ACCS defense into points for its offense when Cothern ran in from one yard out at the 7:46 mark of the second quarter for a 28-0 Rebels lead. Walker scored his second touchdown of the game on a nine-yard run with 1:29 left for a 35-0 lead at halftime.

Carter completed five of 12 passes for 96 yards and backup quarterback EJ Hutchins completed the only pass he threw in the second half for four yards. Walker finished with 75 yards on six carries while Cothern had seven carries for 62 yards and Carter had four carries for 39 yards.

CJ Ferguson was the leading receiver for ACCS with one catch for 56 yards. Colton Rabb, who scored on a four-yard run late in the third quarter, had two receptions for 32 yards.

With the Rebels’ younger players in the game for the majority of the second half, Cathedral (3-8, 1-4) finally got on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter when Cusic found a wide-open Cooper Atkins for a 37-yard TD pass and Cusic threw a two-point conversion pass to Tristan Fondren.

Defensively, Cothern, Chris Sewell, and Levi Beesley each had four tackles with Cothern also having an interception and a fumble recovery.

“He had a big game for us on both sides of the ball. He’s always relentless on defense. We love his tenacity on defense,” Freeman said about Cothern. “Both of them (Sewell and Beesley) got some good minutes in the second half and they made some big plays.”

ACCS (8-3) will be the No. 10 seed for the MAIS Class 5A Playoffs and will travel to Meridian to take on No. 7 seed Lamar School in a first-round game next Friday at 7 p.m.