NATCHEZ — Friday was an edge-of-your seat night if there ever was one.

An abundance of games were decided on last second plays and key defensive stands, and the Mississippi public school teams pulled out victories.

Cathedral defeated Salem 33-30 on a 4-yard Preston Edwards pass to receiver Braxton Fondren with less than 10 seconds on the clock to win the game.

“We converted a key fourth down on that drive,” Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. “Braxton is a good player. He’s picking up where he left off last year.”

Fondren scored 17 touchdowns for the Green Wave last season.

Friday night he caught three touchdowns on the offensive side and four tackles and two interceptions on the defensive side.

The Green Wave host Pelahatchie this Friday at 7 p.m.

“Pelahatchie is an opposite team from us,” Beesley said. “They line up in power formations and run at you.”

Starters Cole Junkin and Kenny Watson have yet to play a game due to injuries in preseason practice, but should be back this week, Beesley said.

“Getting those guys back will help us defend the run,” Beesley said. “There is also a slim possibility Jeb White will be back to run the ball.”

Natchez High

Head coach Lance Reed and the Bulldogs gave the Natchez High fans something to cheer about Friday night.

After letting a 17-0 lead slip through their fingers, the Bulldogs tied the score at 23 against Gulfport in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.

“It started to feel like déj vu,” Reed said Friday night.

The Bulldogs lost to Jefferson County the week before after leading 21-0 at half time.

They were not about to let that happen again.

The defense held Gulfport on their scoring attempt in overtime and recovered a fumbled snap by Admiral quarterback Ladd Rhodes.

“I challenged my defense all week in practice,” Reed said. “They did a good job.”

The Bulldogs punched the ball in on third down on a quarterback draw up the middle form Travis Isaac.

“Last week (against Jefferson County) definitely helped us get through the game,” Isaac said. “We learned a lot from the experience. It wasn’t going to happen again.”

In other MHSAA action, Franklin County defeated McComb 28-19, Jefferson County shut out Port Gibson 41-0 and Wilkinson County won 20-12 against Newton.

On the Louisiana side, Vidalia was haunted by turnovers in a back and forward game that resulted in an Ouachita Christian School 15-12 victory.

The winning touchdown came on a 21-yard Jacob Davis pass to Glenn Marshal with 21 seconds left.

“We like to give the game away,” Vidalia head coach Dee Faircloth said.

The Ferriday Trojans continued their success beating Block 32-8 and extending their record to 2-0.

Ferriday jumped out early scoring 26 runs in the first quarter.

The Bears’ defense was able to hold the Trojans to just six points in the second half but could never get their offense going.

Ferriday travels to Vidalia this Friday at 7 p.m.