NATCHEZ — If anyone thought Cathedral was in for a letdown following last week’s stunning win at Mount Olive, all they had to do was watch the first quarter of the Green Wave’s game against West Lincoln.

With two Caleb Upton touchdown passes sandwiched between a special teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown, No. 2 Cathedral jumped out to a 26-0 lead and rolled to a 53-15 homecoming win over the still-winless Bears in Region 4-1A action Friday night.

“We played well early. Everybody for us got to play some significant time and we got out of it injury-free,” Green Wave head coach Ron Rushing said. “We had the big win last week and we were worried about coming out sluggish.”

Any concerns the first-year coach had about his team being flat ended quickly when Daniel Huffines fielded a punt and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. Brent Gaudé added the extra point and just like that Cathedral (6-1, 3-0) was ahead 7-0 with 9:26 to go in the first quarter.

Even though Upton did not throw the ball very much, he was quite effective. He threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Carl Hammitte and then connected with Semmes White on a 9-yard touchdown to give the Green Wave a 20-0 lead with 3:15 remaining in the opening quarter. Upton was 4-of-5 passing for 159 yards and three touchdowns.

But they weren’t done putting points on the scoreboard in the game’s first 12 minutes. Adam Kaiser recovered a West Lincoln fumble, picked the ball up and returned it 29 yards for touchdown with 1:34 left for a 26-0 Cathedral lead.

Ishmael Blackmon scored on a 1-yard touchdown run just six seconds into the second quarter and Gaude’s extra point made it a 33-0 game in favor of the Green Wave before West Lincoln (0-7, 0-3) finally scored on an 85-yard kickoff return by Deon Moore. Jamin Conrad ran in for the two-point conversion.

Blackmon, who led Cathedral in rushing with 57 yards on four carries, scored on a 26-yard run with 4:50 left until halftime. The Green Wave took a 39-8 lead at halftime.

“I think it was important to keep the rhythm going offensively. They got in there and did what they’re supposed to do,” Rushing said.

Upton threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Rudy Lazarus early in the third quarter and Kyle Bradley scored on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter for a commanding 53-8 lead.

Moore scored on a 4-yard run with 1:03 left in the ball game and Josh Herring added the extra point.

Moore was pretty much all of West Lincoln’s offense as he had 18 carries for 78 yards. The Green Wave’s defense held the Bears to just five first downs and 89 yards of total offense.

Cathedral hits the road next Friday when it travels to Vicksburg to take on St. Aloysius at 7 p.m.