NATCHEZ &045; Title games in any sport are usually prefaced with a lot of emotions and fanfare.

Schools’ respective fans pack the stands boasting proudly their school colors, teams might exchange a little trash talking during warmups and you can always bet on coaches giving their teams a &uot;win one for the Gipper&uot; speech.

Except possibly in today’s Cathedral-St. Aloysius showdown in Vicksburg, where the Green Wave (12-5, 7-0) can lock up the division 7-1A title with a win over their hated rival.

&uot;We know what today means. There’s no pep talk needed,&uot; Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley said. &uot;We look forward to going up there and coming back with the district title.&uot;

So far this season Cathedral has gotten the better of the Flashes, with a 12-11 marathon in the second week of March.

If there was ever a time for the Green Wave to again trade blows with St. Al it is now. In its last four games, Cathedral has outscored its opponents 55-7.

&uot;My kids are ready to play and very fresh since being off since Saturday,&uot; Flashes head coach Joe Graves said. &uot;We’ve been here many times and are not overly emphasizing this game because it is Cathedral.

&uot;We’ll go out there and play our best and let the chips fall where they may.&uot;

Both Norris and Beesley agreed the offense is smoking at the perfect time and the Greenies are doing a good job to leave few runners stranded on base.

Beesley’s greatest concern, which it has been season long, is in the field with errors. Cathedral committed four Tuesday night and several led to both of the Bobcats’ runs.

&uot;The main thing that we’re having trouble with is throwing the ball,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;And that is more mental than physical. We’ve talked about it and will go from there. You never want to fool with things this late in the season.&uot;

With both teams eligible for next week’s playoffs, the only thing left to decide is a division champion.

St. Al must knock off the Green Wave and starter Jeremy Davis today by more than two runs to earn the title and leave Cathedral stinging on the final district game of the season for the second year in a row.

&uot;I’ve got some bad memories of us and St. Al from last year,&uot; Cathedral senior Chris Norris said. &uot;Kind of like the ones that got away you know. But all it’s done is make me want to strive harder when we face them again.&uot;

After they destroyed Cathedral 12-0 on the opening day of last year, the Flashes gutted out a 5-4 win in 10 innings in Natchez during the final week of the season.

It was the last time Beesley and the Wave would see St. Al until this season &045; or so they thought. But the baseball gods paved the way for the two nemeses through the South State playoffs and into the championship series.

The best-of-three series went the distance after the Greenies and Flashes split the open two.

Another classic chapter in this bitter affair was written in the third, but it was not the fairytale ending Cathedral had wished, as the Flashes survived with a 7-6 victory.

&uot;We cannot treat this game as the usual St. Al rivalry contest,&uot; said Norris, who picked up the win in Tuesday’s 18-2 win over Bogue Chitto. &uot;I think our biggest problem last year was focusing so much on it being St. Al and not treating it as just another game.&uot;

And that is just how Cathedral’s hottest hitter this season will head into today’s 5 p.m. tilt.

In his first year at Cathedral, Te Riley, who was 3 for 4 with a triple and three runs-batted-in Tuesday, has only heard stories of this classic Hatfield and McCoys’ saga.

Riley admitted he his knowledge of the two teams’ history was not as well versed as everybody else, but that did not mean he was going to take it easy on the Flashes.

&uot;(Riley will) see all of it tomorrow,&uot; said Beesley, who has been both player and coach in this series. &uot;I hope we can all stay focused on the game and not let it serve as a distraction.

&uot;We’ve done good to balance the two together. They seem to understand the importance of both.&uot;