NATCHEZ — It may only be round two of the MHSAA 1A/2A/3A playoffs, but Cathedral coach Rick Simons thinks the Green Wave’s game against St. Patrick Saturday will determine the South State champion.

“If we would have won our district, it would have been these two teams playing for the South State title for sure,” Simons said. “But I told my boys to just go ahead and consider this the South State game. It’s going to be that quality of play from both teams.”

The Division 7-A Green Wave, who beat Division 8 winner Richland 2-1 this past Saturday, will have to take on the winner of the Franklin County-Resurrection game if they defeat the Irish Saturday.

Although the Bulldogs defeated Cathedral earlier this season with a corner kick for a goal, Simons said he knows the Green Wave could beat Franklin County. And St. Patrick beat the team Franklin County defeated in the first round, Crystal Springs, twice this season.

So in Simons mind, the trophy comes down to this game.

St. Patrick, the Division 8 winner, defeated Sacred Heart 7-0 to get to round two.

“(St Patrick) will be just as good as we are,” Simons said. “All the games we play from now on will be tough from the get go.”

Simons said to defeat the Irish, the Green Wave will have to get more solid play from Harrison Burns, Kris Griffiths and goalkeeper Aaron Sandifer.

He said those three were instrumental against Richland but will be even more important Saturday.

“It’s going to come down to pretty much as long as our keeper doesn’t allow any goals that are from lackadaisical play and as long as we don’t fall into a lapse and don’t give anything up, we’ll be good to go,” Simons said. “We can definitely win this game, that’s for sure.”

The Irish have six seniors on their team, while Cathedral has four. But Simons said his juniors add plenty of contributions to the team.

“We look for them to not try and rush themselves when it comes to key plays in their third of the field,” he said. “We’re looking for them to slow down and take their time listening to each other talk.”

Simons also said corner kicks will be crucial.

The corner kick goal scored against Richland won the game for the Green Wave, and they’ve scored twice from the corner over the past two games.

“That’s something we worked on a couple days before the Natchez High game, and we’ll work on a few more (today),” Simons said. “We’re doing pretty good to have not had many chances at them this season, and we’re only going to improve.”

Simons said he expects St. Patrick to travel with a large contingent of fans.

But he said he’s just glad not to have to travel to the Gulf Coast for the noon game.

“The home-field advantage is going to be a big thing,” Simons said. “As long as we get some spectators out there, we’ll be doing great.”