VIDALIA — Bragging rights are always a major reason in wanting to win games against a cross-town rival.

For Vidalia High School, though, its game against Cathedral School tonight is for nothing but bragging rights.

Vidalia (5-11, 3-3) is currently trying to make a late-season surge in hopes of getting into the playoff hunt. But Vikings head coach Tim Herndon said the LHSAA will not recognize a win against Cathedral in terms of helping Vidalia’s power point rankings.

“We don’t get any power points in Louisiana for playing anyone from Mississippi,” Herndon said. “The state doesn’t acknowledge it. The way the system is set up is not conducive to playing anyone other than district (opponents) or (opponents) from Louisiana.”

But Herndon said he would never keep the two teams from playing just because the Vikings wouldn’t get any power points from a potential win.

“It’s a great rivalry, and it has been for a long time,” he said. “Coach (Craig) Beesley is a good coach, and has done a good job with them.

“Some of the Cathedral players live here in Vidalia, so it’s a big deal to the kids. We could play a lesser opponent and get ourselves some power points, but I wouldn’t do it. The game means too much to these kids, and I know our guys will be fired up ready to play.”

And Herndon said the Vikings will have their hands full with the Green Wave tonight.

“They’re a really great hitting team,” Herndon said. “They can hit all the way through the lineup. From a pitching standpoint, they have strong pitching, as usual.

“We struck out too many times the last time we played them back in March. We also made some boneheaded plays at the wrong time.”

The Vikings have also had that same problem more recently. In Saturday’s 13-9 loss against Bunkie, the Vikings committed several untimely errors that the Panthers took advantage of to win.

“We weren’t playing bad defense, we just had (the errors) at key points in the game,” Herndon said. “They scored four or five runs off of two miscues with guys on base, and that was tough for us.”

Driving runners in is also a sticking point the Vikings will have to improve on if they want to make a playoff push.

“We actually out-hit Bunkie (Saturday),” Herndon said. “We had 10 hits, but left 11 guys on base, seven of them in scoring position.

“We just couldn’t find a hole for the ball. We hit it hard, but just seemed snakebit. That’s kind of the way our season has gone.”

Tonight’s game between Cathedral and Vidalia is at 7 at Chester Willis Field.