NATCHEZ — After meeting with MHSAA executive director Don Hinton, Cathedral Chief Administrator Pat Sanguinetti said Wyatt Boothe was not ruled ineligible and remains eligible for baseball and basketball, for the time being.

Sanguinetti said he met with Hinton in Port Gibson Monday morning, where Hinton was adamant that he never said Boothe was ineligible.

“I’m going to take the blame for that,” said Sanguinetti, acknowledging that he misinterpreted what Hinton told him Saturday. “The bottom line is they ruled him eligible, but they’re still going to meet again Friday to discuss his eligibility. I still don’t know what the issue is about.”

Initial reports broke about Boothe possibly being ineligible after the MHSAA met last week and talked with Sanguinetti Saturday. Boothe, a resident of Ferriday, received permission to play as an out-of-state player by the MHSAA before the season began, but other schools in the association questioned his eligibility during Cathedral’s playoff run.

Because Hinton told Sanguinetti that Boothe was still eligible, Sanguinetti said Boothe would play today against Trinity at 7 p.m. in a home encounter against the Saints.

“Cathedral has done nothing wrong, and that was stated by Mr. Hinton more than five times today,” Sanguinetti said. “He made it clear today that he knows for a fact that we didn’t recruit these children, but out on the street, people are hearing something different. We didn’t recruit any of them, and I hate that others in the state believe something different.”

The MHSAA was unavailable for comment Monday.