NATCHEZ &045; In a pivotal Region 4-1A matchup between two teams looking to stay in the playoff hunt, Cathedral senior Turner Smith turned in one of the best performances by a Green Wave quarterback in the last decade.

Smith completed 29 of 33 passes for 330 yards and four touchdown passes as the Green Wave pretty much assured themselves of a playoff spot after downing the Salem Wildcats 31-15 on homecoming night at D’Evereaux Stadium.

With two games remaining in its schedule, at Bogue Chitto next Friday and home against a struggling St. Aloysius team on Nov. 7, Cathedral (6-2, 5-2) still has an outside chance to finish as high as second place, especially if Bogue Chitto were also to lose to Mount Olive.

Cathedral took control of the game in the first quarter as the Green Wave went to its usual no-huddle offense led by Smith to take a 13-0 lead on a pair of long drives that didn’t take very long.

&uot;That’s our regular offense. We’ve been doing that all season,&uot; Green Wave head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;We don’t huddle up.&uot;

After forcing Salem to punt, Cathedral went 69 yards in six plays and took just a minute and 55 seconds off the clock on its first drive, which ended with a 27 yard run by John Paul Kenda. Salem’s E.J. Magee blocked the extra point.

The Green Wave then went 85 yards on its next scoring drive that took nine plays and 2:45 off the clock as Smith connected with Eric Lee on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 2:30 to go in the first quarter.

Smith completed his first 10 passes of the game, with his first incompletion occurring late in the opening quarter.

&uot;A lot of short stuff and getting the blockers out,&uot; Smith said. &uot;A lot of screens.The backs and receivers did a good job catching the ball and getting yards after the hit.&uot;

Cathedral then took 3:13 off the clock on its next scoring drive, which went 10 plays and 73 yards. Smith threw a 1-yard pass to Jonathan Jackson with 10:16 to go in the second quarter for a 19-0 lead.

Even though Jackson didn’t have a good game running the ball &045; 10 carries for 43 yards &045; he did a good job catching the ball out of the backfield with nine receptions for 129 yards.

But after that it seemed that the Green Wave relaxed some, especially on defense as Salem got on the board with 8:29 to go in the second quarter as Michael Ellzey capped off a five-play, 70-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. Wildcats quarterback Teddy Martin threw to Jordan Hill for the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 19-8.

&uot;We got that 19-0 lead and we relaxed,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;I don’t know if we got tired. I felt like we didn’t play with a lot of emotion in the second half.&uot;

But Cathedral’s offense would not allow the Wildcats to get back in the game as Smith threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Jones with 6:42 to go in the second quarter for a 25-8 halftime lead.

Jones had seven catches for 127 yards, including a 55-yarder on 3rd and 16 at the Green Wave 8-yard line in which he broke two tackles at their own 30-yard line nearly midway through the third quarter.

In the second half, the Green Wave seemed content to run the ball and run the clock out. It almost didn’t work as they had some problems holding on to the ball.

&uot;We tried to run the ball more in the second half,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;I didn’t think we were doing a god job coming off the ball. I think we played a lot better on defense tonight.&uot;

&uot;Four of the five linemen played both ways tonight,&uot; Smith said. &uot;I think we did a good job running the ball.&uot;

Salem (3-5, 3-4), which is already down in numbers due to injuries, suffered another loss as Undreco Slocum injured his neck trying to make a tackle late in the third quarter and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Wildcats head coach Kenneth Slocum left the game to ride to the hospital to check on how serious the injury is.

Smith’s final touchdown pass of the game was with 8:15 to go in the game as he hooked up with Jackson on a 22-yard pass and a 31-8 lead.