STRINGER &045; Go ahead and scratch your head over this one &045; Cathedral 73, Stringer 60.

And Cathedral did play defense late when it had to.

The Green Wave’s offense returned the favor late, too, to score three touchdowns in the final half of the fourth quarter before a Jonathan Jackson interception returned for a touchdown

provided the 13-point margin, which will come in handy for any tie-breaker possibilities at the end of the season.

&uot;I’ve never been around a game like that,&uot; Cathedral defensive coordinator Craig Beesley said. &uot;It was a wild game. Early in the fourth quarter I didn’t think we could catch back up with them because we couldn’t stop them. I’m still not sure how we beat them. It’s amazing how we came back.&uot;

The Green Wave trailed 60-44 after Stringer dynamite back Tipston Garner broke a 13-yard run for a score with 9:03 left in the game. Then Cathedral got a break and were able to make the stops it couldn’t do all game.

Jonathan Jackson, who had six touchdowns, finished up a drive with a 6-yard run, and his run on the two-point conversion cut the lead to 60-52 with 6:16 left. Cathedral then held Stringer to a three-and-out series, and Andew Ellard then broke a 47-yard run for a score with 4:01 left. Ellard followed with a run on the two-point conversion to tie it up at 60-60.

Stringer then punted, and Garrett Jones returned the punt down to the 10 before a clipping call moved it back to the 35. At this point with the score tied the Green Wave was playing for a field goal and got to a third-and-5 situation at the Stringer 17.

Jones, however, got the ball on a reverse and ran it in for a score with 42 seconds left for a 67-60 lead. Then the Red Devils tried to pass to get a quick score, and Jackson picked off a pass and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown as time expired.

&uot;We (Garner) is still the real deal,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We kept on fighting. I think they got more worn down than we did. I think we got our second wind and rose to another level.&uot;