Cathedral head football coach Ken Beesley Sr. faced a most unusual dilemna just weeks before the football season even started — who to play and when.

After weeks of phone calls, coach Beesley finally got an opponent — Class 5A Warren Central’s junior varsity team, which Cathedral plays in a tough road game tonight at 7:30.

Trying to find an opponent for the Green Wave wasn’t easy at all, Beesley said.

&uot;We had Wisner on the schedule. During the summer, we got a letter saying that Wisner had consolidated with Winnsboro,&uot; Beesley said.

That left an open date, something Beesley did not want. Cathedral already had an open date later in the season, leaving the Wave only eight regular-season games.

&uot;We tried finding 1A and 2A schools in Louisiana and Mississippi, but none of them had an open date for this Friday,&uot; he said.

&uot;We needed a game this week because we open district play against Richland next week,&uot; he said. &uot;So we started calling the bigger school’s JV teams and we finally got an oppenent in Warren Central. We weren’t able to get them on the schedule until two and a half or three weeks ago.&uot;

Beesley said Warren Central is one of the top five schools in Class 5A.

&uot;Their JV team might be the best team we play all year,&uot; he said. &uot;The thing that worries me most is their speed. Their players are a lot faster than ours are.&uot;

A short week of practice and the ongoing heat wave have Beesley concerned about his team will play tonight, he said.

&uot;We played in the (Vidalia) jamboree last week and we needed to work on our pass defense, which we have been doing in practice this week,&uot; he said.

&uot;Several kids have missed practice this week due to illness,&uot; he added. And we can’t over-practice our kids because of the heat.&uot;

Beesley he will depend on the running game, but his team may get some passing plays in as well.

Beesley said he was impressed with his run defense in last week’s jamboree, but has concerns about defending the pass.

&uot;I hope the pass defense catches up with the run defense, because if it doesn’t, and Warren Central starts throwing the ball, we’re in trouble,&uot; he said.