VICKSBURG — Cathedral didn’t do very much on offense against St. Aloysius, but thanks to junior wide receiver Carl Hammitte, they didn’t need to.

Hammitte caught touchdown passes of 93 and 79 yards from quarterback Caleb Upton to lift the second-ranked Green Wave past rival St. Aloysius 13-8 on Friday.

“Carl Hammitte stepped up and made two big catches to pull us through,” Cathedral coach Ron Rushing said. “Every week it’s somebody different stepping up and making big plays, and Carl did it this week.”

Hammitte’s two catches made up 172 of Cathedral’s 318 total yards, as St. Al’s defense bottled up the Green Wave offensive attack most of the night.

“They were more physical,” Rushing said. “They put five in the box and we couldn’t run the ball. We couldn’t do anything effectively.”

Despite the loss, St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart was elated with his team’s physical effort. Ford Biedenharn led the team with 118 yards rushing, and the Flashes kept Cathedral’s high-powered offense in check for most of the night.

“We left it all on the field,” Smithhart said. “They just hit the two big plays. No. 4 (Hammitte) is a good ballplayer. But I was really proud of the way we played. We’re going to be alright.”

Besides Hammitte’s game-breaking plays, the Flashes (3-5, 1-3 Region 4-1A) were undone by a costly end zone interception in the first half and an illegal block on a free kick return in the second half.

The Flashes got a safety when a snap went past Upton from his own 12 and he downed the ball in the end zone to make it 6-2 with 2:53 left in third quarter.

Carlton Campbell ripped off a 25-yard return inside Cathedral’s 30 on the ensuing free kick, but the illegal block penalty wiped it out and St. Al had to start its next drive from its 43. It went three-and-out and Cathedral (7-1, 4-0) got the ball back at its own 20.

After a 1-yard run by J.D. Ealey, Upton went long to a streaking Hammitte at midfield. The ball was underthrown, but Hammitte tapped the ball twice before securing it. Running the final 50 yards to complete the 79-yard score was a formality.

“It was all concentration,” said Hammitte, who finished with four catches for 194 yards. “We practice those types of drills in practice. I made an adjustment on the ball and made the play.”

The momentum-changing play put Cathedral up 13-2 after Brent Gaude’s kick with 39 seconds left in the third quarter. Hammitte’s 93-yard catch in the second quarter accounted for the Green Wave’s first score, and was Upton’s only completion in the first half. Upton finished 5-of-13 passing for 214 yards.

St. Al responded with a 19-play, 69-yard drive to get the game back to a single score at 13-8. The Flashes converted four fourth downs, the biggest a 6-yard pass on fourth-and-5 from backup quarterback Carlisle Koestler to Shelton Headley.

“I thought Carlisle did a great job coming in cold and hitting some big passes,” Smithhart said.

Koestler added a 7-yard run to the eight. Mac Jones pounded it in from there, scoring on a 1-yard run with 5:14 left, but Koestler’s two-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

St. Al’s defense forced a punt with 3:43 to play, giving it one last chance to pull the upset. On fourth-and-9 from their own 21, Smithhart called a double reverse pass that went nowhere. Barrett Teller was stopped for a 7-yard loss, Cathedral ran all but the last three seconds off the clock, and a desperation pass by Koestler was incomplete as time expired.

Cathedral’s victory broke a four-game losing streak in the series.

“It’s a relief,” Rushing said. “We felt like it was going to be a close game. It’s definitely nice to get the streak over with, especially at their place.”