NATCHEZ — When it comes to push or shove, the Cathedral Green Wave have proven they can do both with the best of them.

As Pelahatchie came into town Friday night for its second round matchup against Cathedral, the Chiefs were riding high off of a 500-yard rushing performance against Lumberton, a team Cathedral defeated 35-34 earlier in the season. Cathedral head coach Ron Rushing prepped his defense, and by bringing members of the secondary close to the line of scrimmage to nullify any outside run attempts, Cathedral’s aggressive defensive strategy disrupted Pelahatchie’s offensive flow.

“Defensively, we came out and made them throw the ball,” Rushing said.

What resulted was a team that ran the ball for 500 yards the week prior rushing for only 36 against Cathedral. The defensive line held its ground — Quinton Logan even had an interception on a tipped pass by Will Wallace — and the rest of the hats on defense were flying to the football. But Cathedral’s physical play didn’t stop on the defensive side of the ball. Rather, Rushing looked at his offense, demanding them to muscle around a smaller Pelahatchie front, and that was what they did.

Quarterback Wyatt Boothe rushed the ball 23 times — the most he has all season — to record 127 rushing yards. After the game, Boothe was all smiles, relishing the environment he’s most comfortable in. Boothe said lowering his shoulder and picking up extra yards was the type of burden he loves to carry.

“Oh yeah, (that style) is fun,” Boothe said.

Christian Jenkins, who rushed for three touchdowns in the win, said he didn’t have butterflies before the game, because he understood the assignments and felt the matchups were in his team’s favor. He thought that showed in the team’s execution.

“We read our holes really well,” Jenkins said. “Boothe pulled it when he needed to and handed it off when he needed to. Boothe really grinded it out tonight.”

While Cathedral was able to ground-and-pound Pelahatchie for more than 200 yards in the game, Cathedral’s leading offensive producer Dee Fleming was held to minimum yardage, totaling just over 50 yards on the night. Every time he seemingly moved, Pelahatchie’s Tony Beeman would follow opposite of him and run toward the ball. Rushing felt his offense might have been tipping their hat to the play.

“We’re going to have to go back to the film, and see if we have a tendency,” Rushing said.

Another problem emerging from the game was the amount of cramping going on. Boothe had to sit out two offensive series with cramping issues, along with multiple other Green Wave players throughout the game.

“We came out here, and it was hotter than we were used to,” Boothe said.

Rushing was shaking his head over it after the game.

“It’s late in the season, and we should be good, but maybe we’re not drinking as much water as we should be,” Rushing said. “But you go back and look, and it’s been four or five weeks since we played four quarters. That’s probably got something to do with it.”

With a full game under their belt, the Green Wave look to continue to be physical (without any cramping) this Friday night when they host Nanih Waiya.