Cathedral High School coach Chuck Darbonne got a taste of the passion fans have for high school football in the Miss-Lou last week when his team faced city-rival Trinity Episcopal.

“Everyone I ran into that knew I was the Cathedral coach let it be known that game would be played for a lot of people,” the first-year coach said.

The first-year coach figures to get more of the same this week when Cathedral hosts another city rival Adams County Christian School in a pivotal MAIS District 4-AAA matchup.

The Rebels (5-2, 2-0) are attempting to remain atop the district standings, while the Greenwave (3-4, 1-1) is looking to make a late-season surge to cement their spot in postseason play.

Both teams feature an array of talented playmakers, headlined by Division I commits in Cathedral’s Will Wallace and ACCS’ George Scott III.

“They’ve got great athletes,” ACCS coach David King said. “They’ve got some really good players, and Chuck has done a good job of getting them in the right spot.”

ACCS beat its city rivals in last year’s meeting as MAIS affiliates, 27-17, and King said the atmosphere from that game still lingers.

“Cathedral brings a lot to our association, and I think they’ve come to appreciate this league,” he said. “It’s an honor to have Cathedral in our association; it’s an outstanding school with a great fanbase.”

ACCS enters play today perhaps at their best, winners of its last five contests, including a 28-7 win over Columbia Academy last week.

But the Rebels grizzled coach isn’t satisfied.

“We played our best three quarters of the season last week, but we didn’t play four quarters” King said. “We have to play four quarters this week. Cathedral’s kids are going to play four quarters, and (Darbonne) is going to have them ready and pumped.”

Darbonne said ACCS’ plethora of offensive weapons stands out.

“(Running back DyKevis Ford) is probably the fastest player we faced all year,” he said. “(Scott) is very talented and so is (running back) Julian Wilson and Cade Wells. All of them have different types of talents, and it’s just a good mix of talent that can do a lot of different things.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.