NATCHEZ — Before personally handing each member of the 2014 Cathedral Green Wave football team a state championship ring, Cathedral head coach Ron Rushing addressed the Cathedral student body.

“This is the day we’ve been waiting for, for a very long time,” said Rushing to students, faculty and family members gathered Friday morning in Cathedral’s gym.

Speaking to his football team, Rushing said, “I hope one day you realize what you’ve accomplished.”

After being handed their ring and posing for a picture with Rushing, the 2014 MHSAA Class A State Champions lined up and unboxed their rings for the first time. Wide eyes and wide smiles graced the basketball gym floor, as each member grabbed their extra-large sized ring from the box. Rushing warned the crowd about the size before unveiling the rings.

“I told them to bring me the biggest ring they had,” Rushing said.

The always-colorful Wyatt Boothe, who scored five total touchdowns in the 49-14 state championship win against St. Aloysius in December, joked around with his teammates after the ceremony. Boothe declared, in all honesty, he was not expecting his new bedazzled jewelry to be as captivating.

“It took my breath away,” Boothe said. “I’m going to wear it around for a week, but after that, I’m going to put it back in this box and look at it every night before I go to sleep.”

Dee Fleming, who was taking pictures with parents and fans after receiving his ring, was also surprised by the ring’s mass. He said he planned to take care of it as if it were a “little baby.”

“This thing is huge, but this means much more to me than just a ring,” Fleming said. “It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It means unity to me. We all came together.”
Though the ceremony celebrated what the Green Wave accomplished last season, Rushing made an emphasis to include Cathedral’s future, as well, trying to keep his team’s mind on the 2015 season ahead.
“When I first got here, they said you can’t win a championship at Cathedral, and we proved them wrong,” Rushing said. “But hey, if you win one state championship, you can win another.”