NATCHEZ — Cathedral’s game against Bogue Chitto started off bad and just got worse.

Bogue Chitto scored 14 points before the Green Wave offense even took the field and scored 30 points in the first quarter of what turned out to be a 44-14 rout.

“We just mentally weren’t in the game tonight,” Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said. “It looked like we still had a hangover from last Friday night’s loss to St. Aloysius. We mentally were a step behind.”

Bogue Chitto scored twice in the first 39 seconds of the game.

Brian Robinson ran the opening kickoff back 84 yards for a touchdown, and after Bogue Chitto recovered a squib kick, it took only two plays for the Bobcats to score again.

Byron Kersee took off down the right sideline for a 39-yard scoring run, and just like that, the Bobcats were up, 14-0.

“They scored 14 points before we could even get our offense on the field,” Beesley said. “It was a long night for me.”

Cathedral did get back into the game briefly on its next possession. The Green Wave drove 56 yards in eight plays for a touchdown on a 3-yard plunge by JEB White.

However, Bogue Chitto quickly put any thoughts of a Cathedral win to rest on its next possession.

It took the Bobcats only three plays to score, and they did when quarterback Seth Avants hit D.J. Turner down the sideline for a 45-yard bomb that made the score 22-7.

Bogue Chitto completed the first quarter barrage a few minutes later, when Avants finished off a 10-play drive with a 3-yard run.

The Wave could never figure out the Bobcats running game.

Bogue Chitto rushed the ball 40 times for 297 yards on the night, for an average of 7.4 yards per carry.

“Their offensive line does a good job of trap blocking, and their backs are tough,” Beesley said. “They’re a good hard-running backs, and they hit the hole quick.”

The quick strikes of Bogue Chitto also forced Cathedral to change its game plan.

Beesley had hoped to control the clock with the running game, but wasn’t able to do that once the Wave got far behind.

“It took us out of our game plan,” Beesley said. “When we were down 14-0, we came back and put on in (the end zone), but from there we couldn’t get anything done on the ground because we were down three touchdowns after that.”

Bogue Chitto scored another touchdown in the second quarter, when Avants hit Michael Martin on a 21-yard scoring pass, and completed its offensive night with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Avants to Robinson in the third quarter.

Cathedral got off the mat to score on the first play of the fourth quarter, when quarterback Preston Edwards connected with White on a 21-yard scoring pass.

Cathedral must recover from the loss quickly with region powers Mount Olive and Puckett coming up two of the next three weeks.

“We’ve got to regroup and get ready, because from here on out, it’s only going to get tougher,” Beesley said. “But we’ve got a good group of kids and we’re going to regroup, come back and play hard next week.”