For those of you still wondering how a team can score 60 points and get beat by two touchdowns, you’re not alone.

Count yourself in with about 99 percent of the general public.

Even Cathedral head coach Ken Beesley Sr. was trying to sort everything out Sunday afternoon after the Green Wave walked away a 73-60 winner of Stringer Friday night. The contest was more high-scoring than most prep basketball games you’ll find, and it’s safe to say coaches on both side might rather take up basketball than be involved in another shootout like that again.

&uot;I can’t say it was a good game,&uot; Beesley joked. &uot;It was an exciting game. If you like offense, it was a real exciting game. Both teams were having trouble stopping the other one. Finally in the fourth quarter we were able to stop them three straight times. I was just proud to see our team hanging in there and playing hard. But it was back and forth all night long.&uot;

The game went like almost the entire 48 minutes, including a 21-21 tie at the end of the first quarter. What you had was two explosive offenses firing off against a defense that was struggling, and the Red Devils actually had a 60-44 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the game.

That’s when the Cathedral defense &045; who allowed 395 yards rushing with 230 coming courtesy of Tipston Garner &045; made some big plays. The Green Wave came up with a stop and forced the Red Devils to punt, and a bad snap allowed the defense to tackle the punter at the 5.

Jonathan Jackson later ran in for a score and the resulting two-point conversion to cut it to 60-52. The Red Devils punted again, and the Green Wave scored again when Jackson broke a 47-yarder for his sixth touchdown of the game. Andrew Ellard’s run on the conversion put tied the game at 60-60 with 4:01 left in the game.

Stringer punted again, and Garrett Jones returned it down to the 10 before a clipping call moved it back to the 35. The Wave went into ball control mode to milk the clock and kick a field goal, but Jones took a reverse 17 yards for a touchdown with 42 seconds left for the 67-60 lead.

Stringer got the ball back and got it to the 50 before throwing an incomplete pass with one second left on the clock. The Red Devils moved Stringer to receiver for the play, but the Green Wave countered with Ellard on him in man coverage while everyone else remained in zone.

Jackson picked off the pass and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown, his seventh of the game.

&uot;We were able to keep (Garner) from making the big play,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;Once we came back and tied it up, the momentum shifted back to us. I really thought when they went up 60-44 it would be kind of tough for us to come back, but I don’t know. We just seemed to step it up a notch. We played an outstanding fourth quarter.&uot;

The win was another crucial decision in the team’s hunt for the playoffs. The Green Wave is 4-2 in Region 4-1A in fourth place behind Bogue Chitto. But the Bobcats will face a tough Mount Olive team this week before hosting Cathedral in what can be a pivotal game to see who gets the No. 3 spot in the region.

The Green Wave hosts Salem this week for homecoming, and that’s all Beesley is concerned about right now.

&uot;If we can get by Salem this week, I feel like we should make the playoffs,&uot; he said. &uot;But the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox should be in the World Series right instead of staying at home. It’s been a weird year, and I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch.&uot;

SPEAKING OF PLAYOFFS &045; The anticipation for the match for the district championship in MPSA District 7-A is finally here. Undefeated Trinity Episcopal will host Wilkinson Christian in a game that will determine who goes into the playoffs next week as the No. 1 seed and No. 2 with the highest seed hosting a playoff and the lower traveling.

It’s a similar scenario to last year’s Week 10 showdown between the two teams, a contest Trinity won 14-7 thanks to a big play in the second half to set up the winning score.

Also, the Adams Christian Rebels still have a shot at making the Class AAA Division II playoffs despite dropping a 49-7 decision Friday at Lamar. The loss put the Rebels 2-3 in the district heading into Friday’s game against Parklane for their final district game.

Even an ACCS loss Friday might keep it in the postseason since both Central Private and Copiah have four losses. A loss would put the Rebels with four, but they have the edge against both teams in head-to-head competition.