NATCHEZ — Cathedral School head coach Craig Beesley said he’s expecting his team’s opponent Friday to bring quick-strike ability to the contest.

“West Lincoln School has some big-play potential,” Beesley said. “They’ve got a pretty good tailback that we have to be able to keep in check. Hopefully we can key on him and shut him down.”

Cathedral (0-5, 0-2) will look to open up the passing game by creating mismatches in the open field, Beesley said.

“We need to be able to get out in space one-on-one with their defensive backs and take advantage of that. We want to try and get Daniel Huffines and Charles Lee out there. We think that would be to our advantage.”

With the Green Wave still winless on the season, both the players and coaches are hungry to get that first win under their belt.

“It would be big,” Beesley said. “It would help get us on a roll the last little bit of the season. The teams we’ve played have been tough teams so far, but we’ve been playing them close. We just need to get that break.”

Senior linebacker Elliott McCann echoed the sentiments of his coach.

“We want that first win badly,” McCann said. “Especially since we play our biggest rival after this week in St. Aloysius School.”

Senior linebacker Hunter Foster said he also thinks a win would help jump-start the team.

“I think when we win, everything will start clicking for us from there,” Foster said.

At this point in the season, Beesley said he’s pleased with what he’s seen from his defense in being able to keep games close. However, he also feels there’s some room for improvement.

“They’ve done a really good job overall,” Beesley said. “We’ve got some undersized linebackers that have stepped up for us. We’d like to see the defensive line play a little lower, but they’ve gotten better each week and hopefully will continue to get better.”

The Achilles heel for the Green Wave has been offensive production this season, but Beesley said he thinks it’s still too early to fully evaluate the job they’ve done on that side of the ball.

“We’ve added a lot to the offense since the beginning of the year,” Beesley said. “We’ve added new formations and plays. The teams we’ve played against so far are a combined 21-8, so it’s hard to really get a read on where they stand right now.”

Beesley also said with the variations his offense has installed for these next few games, he should be able to better evaluate it after that.