NATCHEZ – If anyone thought Cathedral was in for a letdownfollowing last week’s stunning win at Mount Olive, all they had todo was watch the first quarter of the Green Wave’s game againstWest Lincoln.

With two Caleb Upton touchdown passes sandwiched between a specialteams touchdown and a defensive touchdown, No. 2 Cathedral jumpedout to a 26-0 lead and rolled to a 53-15 homecoming win over thestill-winless Bears in Region 4-1A action Friday night.

“We played well early. Everybody for us got to play somesignificant time and we got out of it injury-free,” Green Wave headcoach Ron Rushing said. “We had the big win last week and we wereworried about coming out sluggish.”

Any concerns the first-year coach had about his team being flatended quickly when Daniel Huffines fielded a punt and returned it45 yards for a touchdown. Brent Gaudé added the extra point andjust like that Cathedral (6-1, 3-0) was ahead 7-0 with 9:26 to goin the first quarter.

Even though Upton did not throw the ball very much, he was quiteeffective. He threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Carl Hammitte andthen connected with Semmes White on a 9-yard touchdown to give theGreen Wave a 20-0 lead with 3:15 remaining in the opening quarter.Upton was 4-of-5 passing for 159 yards and three touchdowns.

But they weren’t done putting points on the scoreboard in thegame’s first 12 minutes. Adam Kaiser recovered a West Lincolnfumble, picked the ball up and returned it 29 yards for touchdownwith 1:34 left for a 26-0 Cathedral lead.

Ishmael Blackmon scored on a 1-yard touchdown run just six secondsinto the second quarter and Gaude’s extra point made it a 33-0 gamein favor of the Green Wave before West Lincoln (0-7, 0-3) finallyscored on an 85-yard kickoff return by Deon Moore. Jamin Conrad ranin for the 2-point conversion.

Blackmon, who led Cathedral in rushing with 57 yards on fourcarries, scored on a 26-yard run with 4:50 left until halftime. TheGreen Wave took a 39-8 lead at halftime.

“I think it was important to keep the rhythm going offensively.They got in there and did what they’re supposed to do,” Rushingsaid.

Upton threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Rudy Lazarus early in thethird quarter and Kyle Bradley scored on a 1-yard run early in thefourth quarter for a commanding 53-8 lead.

Moore scored on a 4-yard run with 1:03 left in the ball game andJosh Herring added the extra point.

Moore was pretty much all of West Lincoln’s offense as he had 18carries for 78 yards. The Green Wave’s defense held the Bears tojust five first downs and 89 yards of total offense.