NATCHEZ — It has taken a while for the Cathedral players to come down off the high of beating defending MHSAA Class 1A state champion Mount Olive last week.

Fortunately for the Green Wave, this week’s opponent should be the perfect remedy for any lack of focus they might have.

Cathedral will host winless West Lincoln for its homecoming game Friday, with kickoff at 7 p.m. at D’Evereux Stadium.

Not only is West Lincoln 0-6 on the season, the Bears have been outscored by a combined 202-18 in the six games.

Even so, Cathedral coach Ron Rushing doesn’t want his team (5-1, 2-0 Region 4-1A) to have a letdown against a region opponent.

“We’ve been talking to them all week, that after a big game teams tend to have a letdown,” Rushing said. “We talked about doing well in the first part of the game. Our goal is to come out and get started playing well right off the bat.”

But Rushing admits the focus hasn’t been as good during practice this week after last Friday’s one-point victory.

“It took a little while to get focused,” Rushing said. “They were so excited about the game and we’ve also got homecoming going on this week. We really didn’t down to getting ready until Tuesday.”

And while the Green Wave players are preparing for West Lincoln on Friday, the entire school is still buzzing about the win over the defending state champs.

“Everybody at the school is still talking about us beating Mount Olive,” Rushing said. “The kids have confidence that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’ve got a good chance to win the game.”

And Rushing said that confidence is the biggest difference he has seen in this year’s team and last year’s squad that went 4-7.

“Everybody believes in the guy beside them,” Rushing said. “Everybody has got faith in the guys to make a play when his number is called. This is a team, not just one person stands out. It’s really a team effort week in and week out.”