NATCHEZ — Two local teams were left standing after Trinity Episcopal’s 23-7 loss to Simpson Academy Friday night in the MAIS Class AA South State title game.

Cathedral High School took care of business in the first half and held on in the second to tally a 33-19 win against Nanih Waiya High School in the second round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

Meanwhile, Block High School upset St. Martin’s Episcopal 34-26 in the second round of the LHSAA Class 1A playoffs.

For Cathedral, the win means the Green Wave will travel to Noxapater High School this week for the South State title game. Head coach Ron Rushing said the Tigers are much improved from last year, when the Green Wave beat Noxapater 21-14 last year in the first round of the postseason.

“They’re running sort of the same scheme, with a lot of the same guys,” Rushing said. “They’re bigger, stronger, faster. You can tell they’re extremely well-coached by (head coach) Tyler Peterson. They’re schemed up exceptionally well.”

Rushing also said the Tigers are currently on a hot streak, especially since postseason play began.

“They’re probably playing their best football of the year,” Rushing said. “The last two or three games, they’ve really heated up.”

This week the Green Wave will focus on beating Noxapater, but right now Rushing said he’s just soaking in making it to the South State title game.

“It’s like I told the kids Friday night, all the preparation it’s taken (to get here), the year-round lifting we do, it’s all paid off. It’s a good feeling,” Rushing said.

Block

Block was behind against St. Martin’s 26-14 going into the fourth quarter, but the Bears rallied to come out on top. Head coach Benny Vault Jr. said he was glad to see his team respond after being down most of the game.

“I think we started a little slow defensively, and (St. Martin’s) really played tough,” Vault said. “They were a lot tougher than we thought they’d be. Offensively, we clicked. They never really stopped us. Defensively, we finally got into a groove in the second half and shut them down.

“Overall, we played well. We got a chance to see the kids play from behind. We wanted to see if they could play (well) in the second half.”

Given that St. Martin’s was undefeated and a huge favorite going into the game, Vault said it was special to pull of an upset.

“Any win in the playoffs is special,” Vault said. “We went down to New Orleans and beat an 11-0 team, so that should boost the team’s confidence going forward.”

Block will play Mangham this week in the quarterfinals.