NATCHEZ — Bend a piece of metal just one time and it is very hard to break.

But if you keep bending it over and over again, eventually it will snap in your hands.

And that’s exactly what happened to the Cathedral Green Wave defense Friday night.

The Green Wave defense stopped St. Frederick four times inside the 20-yard line, but when the game was on the line in the final minutes, they finally broke.

St. Frederick quarterback Nicholas Leehy threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to John Mark Shepard with 1:05 remaining and then ran in the two-point conversion to give the Warriors a hard-fought 15-14 victory over the Green Wave.

“They just kept coming after us,” Cathedral coach Ron Rushing said. “Our defense gave up yards in the middle of the field, but were able to bow up and stop them when they had to. Our defense gave us plenty of chances to win.”

Cathedral still had a chance to win the game, as the Green Wave drove to the St. Frederick 27-yard line with 9 seconds left, setting up a 44-yard field goal attempt by Brent Gaudé.

The kick was right on line, but fell a couple of yards short with 3 seconds left.

“Brent hit it real well,” Rushing said. “It was just two or three yards out of his range.”

St. Frederick’s trailed 14-7 when they began their final touchdown drive at their own 44-yard line with 6:30 remaining.

The Warriors had already ventured inside the Cathedral 20-yard line four times and come away with no points.

They missed a 24-yard field goal late in the first half, and were held on downs on three consecutive drives in the second half, including a goal line stand in the third quarter.

However, this time St. Frederick would not be denied.

After running the ball for 10 consecutive plays, the Warriors crossed up the Cathedral defense when Leehy faked a run and threw a pass out in the flat to Shepard in the end zone for the touchdown that made the score 14-13.

St. Frederick decided to go for a two-point conversion to win the game, and Leehy took the shotgun snap and dove into the end zone for the winning points.

Cathedral’s normally potent offense was mostly impotent on Friday, as the Green Wave amassed just 140 total yards, with 41 of those coming on their last-gasp drive at the end of the game.

“I just didn’t do a good job of getting the team prepared,” Rushing said. “Offensively we had missed assignments all night and didn’t make plays. That falls on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us prepared in the coming weeks.”

St. Frederick jumped out to an early 7-0 lead when Leehy capped off the Warriors’ opening drive of the game with a six-yard touchdown run.

Cathedral tied it up late in the first quarter following a St. Frederick fumble that put them in good field position.

Jadarius Ealey scampered in from three yards out to tie the score with 27 seconds left in the first quarter.

Cathedral took advantage of another turnover to post their second touchdown of the night, when Carl Hammitte intercepted a pass on the second play of the third quarter and ran it back to the St. Frederick 25-yard line.

Ealey scored two plays later to give Cathedral a seven-point lead, but from that point on, the game was dominated by the Warriors.

Cathedral (3-1) will begin district play next week against Sebastopol, and Rushing said his team had better put Friday’s game behind it quickly.

“These first four games are to just get us prepared for district play,” Rushing said. “Forget the three wins and this loss, because next week is when the season really begins.”