From staff reports

The Cathedral Green Wave made sure that neither North Pike nor Mother Nature would keep them from winning the Division 7-1A/2A/3A championship for the first time in a few years.

Eric Hollowell scored the game-tying goal late in the second half and Taylor Brantley’s goal nearly midway through the first overtime gave the Green Wave 2-1 win over the Jaguars and the division title.

“It was a real mudfest. It was hard to make passes or do anything,” Green Wave head coach Rick Freeman said. “There was a lot of action both ways. It wasn’t just a defensive game.”

Cathedral improved to 10-6-1 overall and finished 7-1 in division play. Because of their 6-2 win over Franklin County Thursday night, the Green Wave finished first while the Bulldogs finished second despite also having a 7-1 division record.

With the Cathedral-North Pike match-ups being division games, they had to take place despite persistent rain for much of the day. But as Freeman noted, the weather did not affect the way his team played.

North Pike’s Can Gullee, who’s from Belgium, scored on a breakaway at the 43rd minute of the first half that gave the Jaguars a 1-0 halftime lead. But just like the Franklin County games two days earlier, the Green Wave rallied.

“Our offense played well. North Pike’s defense was ready to play,” Freeman said. “If they got behind, it made them that more determined. Since the Christmas break, they’ve really put it all together.”

Hollowell scored on a penalty kick after North Pike was called for a handball in the box at the 74th minute of the game that tied the score at 1-1.

Then in the first overtime, Hollowell made a nice long pass to Brantley, who got the ball on a breakaway and went one-on-one with the Jaguars’ goalkeeper. The goalkeeper partially blocked Brantley’s shot, but Brantley stayed with it and scored the goal at the fourth minute, giving Cathedral a 2-1 lead.

The game still had to go to a second 10-minute overtime, but neither team scored and Cathedral was crowned division champion.

“At one point, you knew something had to give, and it did,” Freeman said. “I was real proud of the way we played. We’ve been playing Franklin County tough, but we haven’t been able to break through the last couple of years. That changed this year.”

North Pike girls 1, Cathedral 0

SUMMIT — Ariel Patterson scored the game’s only goal at the 48th minute to give the Jaguars the win as they finished 4-4 in Division 7-1A/2A/3A.

The game was shortened to two 30-minute halves because it had no bearing on the division standings. And that turned out to be a good move because it rained the entire game.

The Lady Green Wave finished 5-11 overall and in fourth place in division play at 2-6.

McComb-Natchez High soccer cancelled

NATCHEZ — Saturday afternoon’s scheduled varsity girls and varsity boys games between McComb and Natchez High were cancelled due to inclement weather. With McComb being in Class 4A and Natchez High being in Class 5A, the games would have had no impact on division standings, so the games were called off.

Bulldogs head coach Dennis Hogue said that if the games had been played, the field at Tom F. Williams Memorial Stadium would have been torn up. Which would not have been good as both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs hosting Class 5A South State first-round games this Tuesday.