NATCHEZ — Cathedral’s head coach Craig Beesley hit the nail on the head when he said the game with Pelahatchie was going to be close.

Cathedral fell 26-24 to the Chiefs Friday night.

“This was a tough one,” Beesley said. “We knew what they were going to do but we couldn’t stop them.”

The Green Wave started off with a great opening 75-yard kickoff return to the 1-yard line by Braxton Fondren.

“I came out focused at the beginning of the game,” Fondren said.

Cathedral put the ball in the end zone on the next play off a Jamerson Jones 1-yard run.

The Chiefs answered with a touchdown of their own at the end of the first quarter when Dan Harvey punched it in on an eight-yard run but a bad snap on the point after left Cathedral up 7-6.

“Cathedral is a good team,” Pelahatchie head coach Bill Ward said. “We are a power running team. We had to keep the ball away from Cathedral’s offense.”

After Cathedral scored a touchdown to start the second quarter the Chiefs’ defense started to find their grove.

Cathedral was threatening inside the 15-yard line but Pelahatchie held them to a 28-yard field goal.

“(Pelahatchie’s) defense was real aggressive in the first half,” Beesley said. “We tried to get some screens in but their man to man coverage was too good.”

The Chiefs were able to score a touchdown and covert a two-point conversion before the half to narrow the gap 17-14.

Pelahatchie came out in the second half and worked the trenches with 12 straight running playing plays on a 68-yard drive to take their first lead of the night 20-17.

Electricity problems in the third quarter forced the officials to keep time on the field.

Cathedral was able to score on a five-yard direct snap to Jesse Morrison.

“Jesse ran hard for us tonight,” Beesley said.

The Chiefs drove down the field on a 16 play scoring drive that milked the clock down to just a few seconds remaining.

“We knew what they were going to do all the way,” Fondren said. “We couldn’t’ stop them. We had a bad game tonight.”

With less than 10 seconds left the Green Wave got a break on a personal foul by Ward and had a chance to win the game on a 32-yard field goal.

“We had it in the end,” Beesley said. “That is a kick Harrison Burns came make.”

The kick sailed right of the poles giving the Chiefs the 26-24 win over Cathedral.

“We couldn’t take advantage in the end,” Beesley said. “I’m disappointed with the lack intensity we had tonight. We have some things to work on.”

The Green Wave hit the road next week to face rival St. Aloysius Friday at 7 p.m.