NATCHEZ &045; This one had all the looks of a season opener.

Take Cathedral, which hasn’t played a game in 22 days after having two straight open weeks. Then Dexter was just trying to come together this week after Hurricane Katrina &045; a storm that left nothing for the school’s athletes but a concession stand and press box at the stadium.

Yet the Green Wave looked awfully similar to its true season opener way back when whey had struggled on defense. Friday night the struggles continued in a 21-6 loss to the Bulldogs in the Region 4-1A opener for both teams.

&uot;We’re not a tough team &045; we’re not physically tough, and we’re not mentally tough,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;We don’t do a good job of wrapping up. We didn’t do a good job of putting a shoulder pad on somebody. I’m more disappointed in the way we tackled than anything else. We just didn’t tackle well.&uot;

That was the biggest disappointment for a team that struggled at times in the opener against St. Aloysius but recovered late in the game for the win. This time the struggles spanned all four quarters thanks to Dexter’s speed that came into play well more than in the St. Al game.

All three of the Bulldogs’ scores came on plays of 30 yards or more &045; two on plays more than 50 yards &045; while they still maintained possession for a good portion of the game.

&uot;We just couldn’t stop them,&uot; safety Charlie Lane said. &uot;We (worked on tackling) the first week, but then we did regular practice the second week. Coach said next week will be nothing but hitting. We were pumped up for the first half, but it was just stupid mistakes.&uot;

The Bulldogs were without explosive quarterback Rico Haynes &045; his family evacuated the area for Atlanta prior to the hurricane &045; to leave the team with only 16 players in uniform. But Mario Miller took the reins on offense as it put up 240 yards rushing and came up with a big play just before half to take the momentum.

The second half, meanwhile, the Bulldogs got a touchdown on their first possession of the second half on a 31-yard run from Miller to break the game open.

&uot;Once we got the lead, we tried to kill the clock,&uot; Dexter head coach Randy Sumrall said. &uot;Both teams were playing without their first-string quarterbacks, and both teams looked like they were playing with their second-string quarterbacks. We’re just proud of what our kids have done these past two weeks. They’ve been without a home, and they played their hearts out.&uot;

The Green Wave couldn’t get the big stops on defense in the second half, particularly after the team’s first score. Zack Calhoun’s 21-yard run set up a 25-yard touchdown pass from Daniel Jenkins to Matthew Hall with 4:33 left in the third to trim the lead to 21-6.

Dexter punted on its next possession &045; its only punt of the game &045; but the Bulldogs moved the chains each of their next three touches to keep the Green Wave offense off the field.

Bradley Weary broke a 59-yard run that helped the Bulldogs get down to the CHS 6, but Cathedral’s Lee Hash came up with a fumble. Two plays later Byron Cotton picked off an Edwards pass with just under three minutes left.

&uot;We will be correcting that,&uot; Beesley said of the defense. &uot;We’ve had some people hurt, and we cut down on our contact. If you cut down on contact during the week, it’ll show up during the game. We let them do what we talked about all week &045; on the first series, don’t give up the big play. We got them third and long, and we let them break one.&uot;

The turning point may have come right before the half when the Bulldogs were thrown for a loss when Kole Junkin sacked Miller to set up a third-and-12 at the DHS 41.

Miller threw a pass that was headed right for CHS defensive back Daniel Jenkins, but Cotton jumped in front of him and pulled it down.

From there, Cotton turned it into a 59-yard touchdown reception for a 14-0 lead with 27 seconds left before Cathedral was to take the opening kick of the second half.

&uot;He just jumped in there and picked it off,&uot; Sumrall said. &uot;It was almost an interception for them. He stepped in there and got it, and that was a big, big play for us.&uot;

For the Wave, the play told the story of what went wrong over the course of the game. Miller broke away from one tackle before throwing it under pressure and taking a lick from Logan Brown right after he released it.

Had the Green Wave stopped it, it could have been a huge momentum swing. The offense had a possession start a midfield after the score, but it died inside the 30 when the Bu