In times like these, you can do any number of things to try and stay sharp &045; pick the intensity, simulate a game or spend more time on conditioning.

Yet there’s one thing everyone has to do that nobody likes.

Sit and wait.

That’s what a number of football teams from the Miss-Lou did Friday night at Hurricane Rita moved through the area as the second hurricane to disrupt the schedule so far. At least two teams will try again tonight &045; Cathedral will visit West Lincoln and Wilkinson County will play at Columbia.

Tom Petty had it right &045; the waiting is the hardest part.

&uot;That’s one thing about an act of God &045; there’s nothing you can do,&uot; said Wilkinson County head coach John Moore, whose Wildcats won’t make their home debut until Oct. 14. &uot;You’ve got to go with it. I hate it, but it’s an act of God. If I could have stopped the hurricane, I would have.&uot;

Both Wilkinson County and Cathedral will kickoff at 6 p.m. in games that have to get in because they’re region games. Everyone else who didn’t play Friday night &045; Natchez, Ferriday, Block and Franklin County &045; will go ahead with preparations for this week’s opponents.

The games give both the Green Wave and the Wildcats short weeks this week, but it’s more to that for the Green Wave. This week will technically not be a short week since it will play Saturday against St. John at Gulf Coast Community College, but the following week’s opponent is Mount Olive.

Does anyone remember normal?

&uot;Their superintendent told all their schools to postpone,&uot; CHS head coach Ken Beesley Sr. said of West Lincoln. &uot;I’m sure they were trying to be on the safe side. This year has been so &045; I don’t know. I’ve never been through one like this having to change things as much as we have.

&uot;That was the only reason I wasn’t too upset about playing Monday. I knew we weren’t going to play again until Saturday. We’re just in a bad stretch now. We’ll play Monday, play again Saturday and turn around and play Mount Olive Friday. The problem is both of them are kind of big and physical. If we get banged up against St. John, it’s not going to give us long to get well before we play Mount Olive.&uot;

Or it could be like Wilkinson County, who will have a short week to prepare for Amite County on Friday. Then after that it’s a road date at top-ranked South Pike before finally hosting their first game of the season in Week 7.

Katrina pushed back the team’s Week 3 home game against Jackson, La. Schools in Louisiana, however, didn’t push their schedules back and forced the Wildcats to have another off date.

&uot;We’re blessed &045; that’s the way I look at it,&uot; Moore said. &uot;The whole state of Mississippi is in a quandary. Everybody has got to do what they can and try to help one another. Hopefully we’ll get back to normalcy, but you never know. That (Jackson) game was a big game for us monetary-wise. But we’ll have to survive.&uot;

ON THE DEFENSIVE &045; Some small colleges expressed interest in Tensas Academy’s Cody Hill back during the summer, and Chiefs head coach Chris Jacobs asked them to keep an eye on him.

Let’s hope they’re doing so.

Hill has flourished at defensive end this season while moving from fullback to tight end on the offensive side to keep him from getting winded. Against Briarfield Academy he finished the game with 18 tackles, nine of which were for a loss of yardage.

Of his first eight tackles, seven were for a loss. For the season, 17 of his first 34 tackles were for a loss.

&uot;He’s been doing an excellent job,&uot; Jacobs said. &uot;When he goes out on defense, he’s got more energy. (Porters Chapel) made some good adjustments, double-teamed him and did a good job of running away from him. We did move him where they were running, and it was a chess game. But he’s turned into his own.&uot;

MORE RIDLEY &045; It’s enough for opposing coaches to come up with a plan of trying to contain Trinity Episcopal’s Stevan Ridley in the Saints’ offense, but teams are finding out he can do other thing, too.

On Friday, he was a menace on the defensive line against Tri-County as the Saints stopped the Rebels’ offense in the second half. Ridley also returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown.

He also ran for 128 yards on 15 carries, upping his season totals to 698 yards on 82 carries through five games.

&uot;I thought our offensive line played pretty well tonight, and I think they’re getting better,&uot; Trinity head coach David King said. &uot;I think (Ridley) is starting to understand what we’re asking of him. Stevan has a lot of talent, and he’s starting to understand he has to do the things Coach (Matt) Mason and I want him to do. He’s done that the last two weeks, and it’s showed on both sides of the ball.&uot;

HARD-CHARGING &045; Cathedral’s Zack Calhoun may be off to one of the better starts that no one knows about. He’s topped the 100-yard mark in the two games the Green Wave has played, and he could do it again tonight against an inexperienced West Lincoln team.

He’s been the constant in an offense that’s gone through injuries with freshman Preston Edwards at quarterback to replace injured Patrick McDonough and Murphy Hinson at fullback to replace injured Daniel Hollowell. It’s also forced the Green Wave to simplify its offense and keep it more run-oriented.

&uot;Zack’s capable of doing what we need to do, which is control the football,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;He’s a hard runner to bring down, but his problem is he can’t hold up for a whole game. That and he has to make sure he controls the football. If we give Zack a little bit of blocking, he’s a hard back to bring down. I don’t think he realizes how good he could be.&uot;