VICKSBURG &045; After six years of losing to archrival St. Aloysius, Cathedral finally decided to make a stand.

Cathedral’s defense stopped St. Al on four plays inside the 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter Friday night, preserving a 28-21 victory over their Catholic school rival from Natchez.

It was Cathedral’s first win over St. Al since 1997, and clinched a playoff berth for the Green Wave (5-5, 5-4 Region 4-1A). They will play either Scott Central or Union in the first round of the playoffs next week.

St. Al finished its season with a 3-8 record, and was 3-6 in region play.

&uot;It means a lot, especially to this group,&uot; Cathedral coach Ken Beesley Sr. said. &uot;These seniors, it’s their first time to beat them. It’s just nice to get a victory over them, plus it puts us in the playoffs. I was hoping it wouldn’t be that hard, but it was.&uot;

St. Al’s Rob Jones ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, and quarterback Daniel Halinski completed 9 of 18 passes for 189 yards and a score.

It wasn’t enough to overcome a porous secondary, however. Cathedral quarterback Patrick McDonough completed only 6 of 15 passes, but threw for 199 yards. Four of his completions were for over 20 yards, and three went for 39 yards or more.

Andrew Ellard was McDonough’s favorite target. The speedy senior caught three passes for 142 yards and a score. He also ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries, had two long kickoff returns, and finished with 316 total yards.

&uot;We played good tonight, we really did. Our secondary killed us. They’re young and inexperienced, and it showed,&uot; said Jones, who also played linebacker for St. Al. &uot;They knew we were young, and they took advantage of it.&uot;

Cathedral led 28-14 late in the third quarter and was poised to score a back-breaking touchdown when a pass tipped off of Ellard’s hands at the 5-yard line. St. Al’s Harris Martin snatched the ball out of the air, and three plays later Jones broke through the middle of the Cathedral line and down the right sideline for a 71-yard touchdown run.

Cathedral drove deep into St. Al territory on its next possession, but Martin came away with another pick in the end zone. He tried to bring it out of the end zone, despite being 6 yards deep, and was tackled at the 1.

St. Al managed to move the ball to its 32-yard line before it was forced to punt, then caught two huge breaks on the same play.

The punt snap was low, and Jonathan Longmire’s knee seemed to touch the ground as he fielded it. The call was missed by officials, but the Cathedral player who hit Longmire after the ball was away was not. A roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Flashes a first down at the 45-yard line.

On the ensuing third down, Chip Donald won a jump ball from a Cathedral defender and made it to the 4-yard line before he was tackled. That gave the

Flashes a golden opportunity to tie the game or take the lead, but it never came to fruition.

Three consecutive running plays lost three yards, leaving the Flashes with a fourth-and-goal at the 7 with about 2 minutes to play. Halinski dropped back to pass, was unable to find an open receiver, and was sacked for an 8-yard loss as the pocket collapsed.

&uot;They knew what we were running,&uot; Jones said. &uot;They knew we were going to try and power it in. They stacked nine people up, and they just had too many people to block.&uot;

Ellard ran for what appeared to be a game-sealing 56-yard gain on the next play, but Cathedral declined to run out the clock and tried for one more first down. Justin Liddell stripped the Wave’s Daniel Hollowell on second-and-6, giving the Flashes the ball at their 28-yard line with 31 seconds to go.

Like their earlier series, however, they were unable to move the ball. Halinski was sacked on third down and time ran out on the Flashes.

&uot;It was a hard-played game. It wasn’t a very well-played game,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We had too many mistakes. We were lucky to get out of here with a victory.&uot;

The teams combined for more yards in the last 2 1/2 minutes of the second quarter than they did in the rest of the first half.

Halinski floated a pass down the seam to J.R. Burnett, and Burnett outran Cathedral’s secondary for a 74-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14-14 with 1:41 to go in the half.

On the next play, Ellard caught a short pass over the middle. He weaved through the St. Al defense, hit the sideline and sprinted the rest of the way untouched for a 60-yard TD to put the Green Wave back in front, 21-14.