NATCHEZ &045; Things got bad for Cathedral midway through the season, but Murphy Hinson really didn’t take the losses personally.

The injuries were mounting, and everyone knew it. But it couldn’t last forever, and it sure didn’t. The Green Wave is in a position Friday night to sew up a playoff spot with a win over Bogue Chitto after losing four of their first five games.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. at D’Evereux Stadium.

&uot;I think we’re just getting everybody back, and that’s really helping us,&uot; Hinson said. &uot;We got two back last week. Drew (Burns) came back last week, and that helped. Matthew (Hall) should be able to play this Friday. I think we fought back pretty good, and that’s what we had hoped for.&uot;

Some of those injured players have returned, and everyone has had an opportunity to get comfortable playing in their positions. The results have been two wins in the last three weeks, although the Wave is still stewing about that 22-13 loss last week at Salem in a game everyone feels they should have won.

The win locked up the No. 3 spot in Region 4-1A for Salem, and now Cathedral (3-4, 3-5) must beat Bogue Chitto (4-3, 4-5) and win next week against St. Aloysius (2-5, 2-7) to get into the playoffs for a second straight year.

But for the third straight year there’s a whole bunch of marbles on the line when the Green Wave faces the Bobcats.

&uot;We’re kind of in the same situation we’ve been in the last two years,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;We’ve got to win it, and if we lose to Bogue Chitto the last game won’t make much difference. Two years ago I thought we had the better team and they out-played us. Last year they probably had the better team, but we out-played them. The better team doesn’t necessarily come out on top in this series.

&uot;They’ll come out fired up, and I hope our guys will come out fired up. This is the last home game for these seniors.&uot;

The loss to Salem was just further indication of how much better the team is playing this late in the season. Defensively it may have been one of its better showings of the year against a team with a good amount of speed.

The Green Wave scored first and had a lead heading into the fourth quarter in a game that could given it a little more room to breathe in the playoff race. Instead Salem came through with a field goal in the fourth quarter and returned a fumble for a touchdown to take the win.

&uot;We’ve got to win this one,&uot; senior Justin Dollar said. &uot;When they came out and scored (in the first half), that was on an interception. They scored one time against the defense. We held them to one touchdown. We had that game. Just two or three plays out of the entire game messed it up for us. We had that win big time.&uot;

The defensive unit got Burns back at linebacker and held Salem to just over 100 yards rushing on the game. The team tackled better as a whole, and it’s something that will come in handy against Bogue Chitto.

The Bobcats may be entering the game banged up on the offensive end. They dropped a 49-7 decision to Mount Olive last week to end a four-game winning streak.

&uot;They know and I know we had a chance to win that game (over Salem),&uot; Beesley said. &uot; We could have put that game out of reach in the first half and didn’t do it. If our defense plays Friday night what it did the other night, I think we’ve got a good chance of beating Bogue Chitto. I thought we did a good job of tackling. We still have to work on our pass defense.&uot;

The Bobcats will come with an offense that is centered around the quarterback with some option and some passing along with a fullback that can take it up the middle. They may have some size on the Green Wave, but the emphasis for the defense will have to be on the quarterback.

&uot;We’ve got three people we’ve got to keep an eye on,&uot; Dollar said. &uot;The quarterback is fast, the fullback likes to stay in the middle and they’ve got a good wide receiver. We’ll try to keep the quarterback in the middle. He’s the best athlete on their team.&uot;

On the offensive end the Green Wave ran into big turnover problems against Salem, something it’s stayed away from for some time now. But the passing game may weigh heavily in this contest with sophomore Patrick McDonough at quarterback after he threw for 151 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions last week.

&uot;It’s been kind of hot and cold,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We look good for one or two plays then have problems for one or two. Last week he threw one for a touchdown for us and threw another for a touchdown for them. I feel like we’ll have to throw the ball this week. That doesn’t mean we’ll have to come out and throw it all the time, but when we throw we’ll have to have success with it.&uot;