NATCHEZ — The Cathedral School football team lost more than a football game Friday night when it visited Stringer High School.

The Green Wave will be without starters Khalil Brice and Ishmael Blackmon Friday when they host Salem High School. Both were injured in Cathedral’s 35-14 loss at Stringer. Cathedral also has a few other injuries that may keep other key players out of the contest, assistant coach Craig Beesley said.

Beesley said players like freshman Chisum Mardis and sophomore Christian Jenkins would have to step up offensively and carry the load for Brice, who is the Green Wave’s leading rusher.

“Coach (Ron) Rushing challenged the younger guys to take their spots,” Beesley said. “He also challenged the coaching staff to get the kids ready for another region game.”

The loss to Stringer puts the Green Wave in a precarious position in MHSAA Region 4-1A.

“We are 1-1 right now, and if we went 1-2 in the first three games with the long season we have in front of us it would be tough,” Beesley said. “It’s important to get a win, so we would be 2-1 and Salem would be 2-1, and we could pull even with them. We don’t want to get behind a team we’ve already played.”

Beesley said Cathedral’s players were down Sunday but each day he has seen them get more and more excited to get back on the field.

“They were dragging Sunday, but we’ve seen the intensity pick up, and Friday we should be good,” he said. “They were upset, but we will bounce back.”

Beesley said he expects Salem to run the ball between the tackles.

“They will run right at us, and hopefully we can stop that,” he said.

Beesley said how Cathedral handles the adversity of missing key players would make a difference in Friday’s game.

“We’re not going to have those guys for this game, but if we play well we can compete and have a chance at the end to win it,” he said.

Cathedral (2-1, 1-1) will host Salem (3-1, 2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.