For the offenses of two local schools, Friday night was a coming out party of sorts.

For both Adams County Christian School and Cathedral, the offense finally woke up and showed what it can do.

Cathedral scored 40 points in a blowout victory over West Lincoln and ACCS put up 34 points in a win over Huntington. For both teams, that marked a drastic change from the low-scoring performances of the past few weeks.

At Cathedral, fans had grown used to a pass-happy, spread offense the team was running last season with great success. But injuries and graduation have taken their toll on the Green Wave this season and made running that offense difficult.

But on Friday, the Cathedral offense was again in full glory, scoring 40 points in one game after managing just 12 in its first two contests.

&uot;We came out and did well early. We were able to run the ball and we got some of our confidence back,&uot; Cathedral head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;We also took advantage of some of (West Lincoln’s) turnovers.&uot;

One area Cathedral still needs to work on is the passing game. The spread offense, with emphasis on throwing the ball to multiple receivers and short passing routes, has proven tough to run this season. But Beesley said the passing game should improve as the season goes on.

&uot;There’s areas we can improve on,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We need to work on the passing game, but we’ve improved with each game this season.&uot;

Over at ACCS, the Rebels also came out firing, putting up 27 points in the first quarter and racking up big plays with ease. For the Rebels, who had managed just 65 points in four previous contests, the change was very much welcome.

&uot;We’ve been working really hard offensively and hopefully that will carry over to next week,&uot; Walters said.

ACCS has relied on a stingy defense this season to keep the Rebels in games, but Friday night the defense didn’t have to be perfect for the team to have a shot to win.

OH HENRY &045; Even with some bad snaps late in the game, Natchez High head coach Lance Reed opted not to be critical of his replacement center Friday night.

Freshman Robert Day stepped in for the second straight game for the injured Henry Hedgepeth, who is out with an arm injury. The Bulldogs, who base out of a shotgun while going no-huddle, struggled with bad snaps late in the game.

Two resulted in a combined loss of 41 yards, but Reed stood by his freshman center.

&uot;Every week we’re moving people around because of different issues, and I had to start a freshman at center,&uot; Reed said. &uot;He did a good job for a freshman. Asking him to do what he did was asking a lot. He’ll be a good player for us.&uot;

Day had not problem with the snap for most of the game in place of Hedgepeth, who Reed said had to be hospitalized following an arm injury. The junior who started almost all of last season at quarterback had a boil develop on the arm and an infection in it, and doctors won’t release him to play until they find out exactly what’s wrong.

&uot;He’s a returning starter,&uot; Reed said. &uot;That’s kind of holding up the consistency we’ve been looking for. But that’s what a team is all about. That’s what I tell the others &045; you’ve got to be ready to step up. Day for the most part did a good job.&uot;

INSULT TO INJURY &045; The game was already out of reach midway through the third quarter Friday night at Natchez High, and that’s when things went from bad to worse.

With the Bulldogs having some progress moving the football, it came to a halt when Mitchell Lewis picked off a Riley Trask pass off a tip and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown for a 55-6 lead with 4:07 left.

The Bulldogs got it back and on the second play it happened again. This time Jason Bruce fired across the middle, the pass was tipped in the air and Lewis returned it 43 yards for a touchdown with 3:25 left for a 61-6 lead.

&uot;I was very pleased with all the kids’ efforts when they went into there,&uot; WC head coach Curtis Brewer said. &uot;The object of the game is to score. There was never any intention to run up the score. We tried to get in some of our young kids. We’ve just got to improve every week we play.&uot;

PROVED WRONG &045; Trinity Episcopal pounded another opponent on Friday, and it just furthered the argument that the Saints are nowhere near as bad as some folks predicted them to be this season.

Ahem, ahem.

Stuff like that, turns out, was just motivation for the limited number of players to go out and prove everyone wrong. After pounding Prairie View 33-14 Friday night in non-district action, the Saints will face another tough non-district foe this week in Tri-County before returning to district to face Centreville.

And when district resumes, the Saints will be in the race for a playoff spot.

Not bad for a team who we picked to finish last in the district. Hey, we weren’t alone.

&uot;The kids are just taking offense to a lot of reports and publications saying they were going to be last in the district,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;We put that out there in front of them, and the kids have taken that to heart. They’re just a group that wants to show people they’re capable of winning ball games.&uot;

NO END IN SIGHT? &045; Cathedral finally got in the win column Friday night, and it took plenty to get there.

It’s been an unusually injury-plagued season for the Green Wave, even for veteran head coach Ken Beesley Sr. Now in his 27th year, Beesley can’t recall when he’s had to shuffle players around like this one.

The latest to go down was Drew Burns, the lineman-turned receiver who cut nearly all his fingers on one hand in a lawnmower accident last week.

&uot;I don’t think we’ve had a practice with all 11 (starters),&uot; Beesley said. &uot;It’s one of those years. We can’t get any consistency with all the injuries. We’ve got a lot of young kids and a lot of small kids. They’re going to be good, but they can’t step in there and play right now.&uot;

Adam Daigle

contributed to this report.