NATCHEZ — The Resurrection Catholic School football team may have left D’Evereux Stadium Friday night thinking the hundreds of pink-shirted people in the stands were actually on the field blocking and tackling along with the Cathedral School football team.

Cathedral came out firing and dominated the first half in front of a packed house celebrating the Pink Wave Project to benefit Cathedral’s Relay for Life team.

The Green Wave jumped out to a 41-0 halftime lead before emptying the bench in the second half and cruising to a 48-12 victory.

“We had a great week of practice, and we were focused,” head coach Ron Rushing said. “I was extremely pleased with the defense and how we ran the ball.”

Rushing said the Green Wave was ready to finally take the field after 21 days between games.

Cathedral dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in the first half.

Cathedral’s defense held Resurrection to 109 total yards in the first half — 73 of which came on one play. The Green Wave defense pitched a shut out until the fourth quarter and forced two Resurrection turnovers.

The defense even got into the touchdown-scoring act when Pate Shirley grabbed an Eagles fumble out of the air and took it 48 yards for a Cathedral touchdown.

Running back Khalil Brice was the main beneficiary of the offensive line’s good blocking.

Brice finished the first half with 10 carries for 239 yards and touchdown runs of 60, 49 and 95 yards. Brice’s first touchdown run came on the first offensive play of the game for the Green Wave, and his second came on Cathedral’s third play. Christian Jenkins also added a long touchdown run of 52 yards in the first quarter.

Cathedral did not need to put the ball in the air much, but when it did it was effective. Starting quarterback Thomas Garrity finished the game 2-for-3 passing for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

“We were up tempo, and the offense was moving quick,” Garrity said. “I didn’t get to do much really. All I had to do was hand it off, and the offensive line blocked well.”

Garrity’s first touchdown pass gave Cathedral a 21-0 lead after Dale Matheney added the extra point. Garrity found Kyle Bradley for a 21-yard touchdown strike. Garrity connected with Jardarius Anderson in the second quarter for a 31-yard score to make the score 35-0.

Resurrection got on the board in the fourth quarter with two touchdown passes from quarterback Larry Sisson. The first was to Darius Kennedy and the second connected with Zach Mitchell.

Rushing said he was glad to be able to put on a show for the pink-clad Cathedral fans that came out to support the cause.

“It was awesome to see all that pink,” Rushing said. “We had a great presentation before the game, and we hope we can make it even bigger next year.”

Rushing said it was also good for the Green Wave to start MHSAA Region 4-1A play with a win.

Cathedral (2-0, 1-0) looks to grab another region win next Friday when it travels to face Stringer.