NATCHEZ &045; You can’t write off Cathedral football quite yet.

There’s still a matter of a playoff possibility remaining, and it’s a solid one. For a team that was more banged up and living on borrowed time more than Al Bundy’s Dodge, the Green Wave’s wins in the last two games prove nothing is done yet.

The Green Wave travels to third-place Salem for a 7 p.m. kickoff today as MHSAA schools in the Miss-Lou enter Week 9. Everyone else will play Friday.

&uot;This game could be big to see who comes in third place in the district,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;You’ve got us, Salem and Bogue Chitto, probably the top three teams left for third and fourth place. We have to win this one. If we win the next two, that will give us a good shot at third place. But we can’t look ahead, and we’ve got take care of this one.&uot;

The Green Wave (3-3, 3-4) sits in fifth right now in Region 4-1A behind Bogue Chitto (4-2, 4-4) and Salem (4-2, 5-3). The game tonight is big for Cathedral since it has played both Mize and Mount Olive already.

Salem and Bogue Chitto have yet to play Mount Olive. The Green Wave will then turn around and play Bogue Chitto next week in another game that will go a long way in deciding who gets into playoffs as the No. 3 and 4 seeds before finishing up at St. Aloysius.

And now that Cathedral has some players returning and a little more confidence under its belt, anything can happen.

&uot;It’s in our hands,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;It’s what we do. If we go out and play and come away with wins these last three games, we’re in third place. But that’s easier said than done. The kids have been real excited. I was real pleased with the way we played on homecoming (two weeks ago). We played hard last week, but I didn’t think we played as smart as we could.&uot;

The Green Wave may have played one of its better games defensively last week in holding off Stringer for a 12-6 win. It made up for a night of the offense firing some blanks against a team it could have score more points on, but the defense came up with four turnovers.

That came on the heels of a 35-6 win against Enterprise on homecoming in a driving rain, the Green Wave’s first solid win in a couple weeks.

&uot;The main thing is we’re tackling a little better and being more aggressive,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;They’re executing a lot better. Enterprise and Stringer, they didn’t have a whole lot of speed. That helped out. The thing that concerns me about Salem is they’ve got several good athletes that are capable of making big plays. Salem is going to be faster than any of them.&uot;

The Wildcats suffered a 25-24 loss to Bogue Chitto last week but were able to move the ball at times behind quarterback Desmond Williams. The Wildcats have thrown a number of formations at their opponents, including a spread set similar to Cathedral’s that features a number of short passes.

It’s a defense the Green Wave knows how to play well &045; that’s what the defense sees in practice when it matches up against the offense. The defense will have Drew Burns back today and may have Justin Johnson as well.

&uot;At least we know what it’s going to look like,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;They like to throw a lot of jets &045; throw it out to the wide receiver and let him make a play on it. If he sits in the pocket, he’ll throw it short. If he rolls from one side to the other, he likes to throw it deep. He likes to throw a lot of deep post routes. We’ll try to play with two safeties this week.

&uot;We’re going to have to score. We’ll have to score in the 20s to have a chance at beating them.&uot;

Northwest Rankin at Natchez High

NATCHEZ &045; So what if wins have been few and far between for four seasons. The Bulldogs’ 32-28 loss Friday night to previously winless Hancock hurt, and now they’ve got to regroup.

The schedule gets turned back up to scorching hot Friday when they host Northwest Rankin.

&uot;It was pretty tough to take,&uot; NHS head coach Lance Reed said. &uot;We’re licking our wounds right now. We’re focusing on trying to continue to work and finish up the year with some positives. We started off the first half and didn’t get going, played better the second half and didn’t finish the game off.&uot;

It’s still a matter of putting all three phases together for the Bulldogs (0-4, 1-7) under their first-year head coach. Turnovers plagued the offense in the first half, and the defense had breakdowns late in the game to allow Hancock to take the lead.

But the offense fared better in the second half with Riley Trask at quarterback after two interceptions in the first half.

&uot;They capitalized on our weaknesses on defense,&uot; Reed said. &uot;We had an opportunity to stop them. It was a good game. They came out on top, and we have to finish games out. Riley had the hot hand. He did really well. He’s done a great job this year, and we have two quarterbacks. But Riley had the hot hand, and we stuck with him.&uot;

Now the Bulldogs host NW Rankin Friday for homecoming and face a team that’s won five straight games. The Cougars (4-0, 7-1) have moved up in the AP Top 20 poll and are playing toward having a showdown with Meridian for the Region 3-5A championship.

The Bulldogs will play with defensive end C.J. Wright, who has been out with a knee injury.

&uot;It’s nothing new for us, but we’re focusing on ourselves,&uot; Reed said. &uot;When we get ourselves right, we can play with anyone.&uot;

Hazlehurst at Jefferson County

FAYETTE &045; It’s back to Region 7-3A play for the Tigers, who sit tied for third place with three games left to play.

Jefferson (2-2, 4-4) is matched up against the top team in the region but has a chance to shake things up with an upset. The Tigers are coming off a 44-20 loss to a solid Tylertown team last week in their week out of the region.

The Tigers can’t give up big plays to the Indians early to have a chance at a win. Hazlehurst can claim a region championship with a win.

Amite County at Franklin County

MEADVILLE &045; Franklin County can stay in second place with a win Friday and wins to finish up the regular season in the next two weeks.

The Bulldogs (3-1, 7-1) appeared to get back on track last week at Port Gibson following a tough 12-0 loss to Hazlehurst two weeks ago. They can clinch a playoff spot with a win over Amite.

Calvary, La., at Wilkinson County

WOODVILLE &045; Calvary Academy will take its road show to Woodville two weeks after losing 6-0 at Ferriday in its second-to-last contest in its first season of football.