Archrivals St. Aloysius and Cathedral are an hour apart on Highway 61, but this Friday night will meet at a crossroads.

No matter what happens in their matchup at Balzli Field, both teams will go into the last two games of the regular season with a chance to win their respective district championships. Both have also had an uneven path to get to this point, and the road to the district title is not easy.

That makes Friday’s game a golden opportunity to gain a lot of precious commodities — confidence, a victory, and power points in the Class AAA wild card race as a hedge against a worst-case scenario down the stretch.

“This is a big game all the way around,” St. Al coach Michael Fields said. “For the seniors, it’s the last home game, a rivalry game, almost a must-win for the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of marbles on the table this week.”

St. Al (2-5) had a setback last week with a 35-7 loss to Manchester Academy, but it might be catching Cathedral (4-3) at exactly the right time.

The Green Wave have been blown out in three consecutive games since starting 4-0, including a 45-10 demolition at the hands of Central Hinds last week. They’ve allowed 48, 43 and 45 points in the three losses.

Central Hinds rolled up 331 rushing yards to only 171 total yards for Cathedral, and afterward Green Wave coach Chuck Darbonne told the Natchez Democrat that his team is suffering from “a confidence problem.”

Fields is hoping the Flashes can continue the misery while building their own confidence against a team they haven’t had success against in a while. Cathedral has won eight in a row in the series since 2010. The streak includes two shutouts, a 49-14 rout in the 2014 MHSAA Class 1A championship game, and an 18-14 victory last season at Balzli Field.

St. Al also has another odd losing streak. It has lost 11 consecutive non-district games and 16 out of 17 since joining the MAIS in 2015. Its only win was a first-round playoff game against Bayou Academy in 2015.

“We’ve got to face reality. We haven’t won a non-district game since joining the MAIS, and Cathedral is a great place to start,” Fields said.

Fields added that playing Cathedral appears, from an X’s and O’s standpoint, to be a favorable matchup. The teams both have undersized offensive lines, and part of the reason for St. Al’s struggles this year have stemmed from being overmatched there.

“They’re going to be bigger and have more depth, but we’ve got a speed advantage. I think this is our best chance to beat Cathedral in a while,” Fields said. “They don’t throw it as much as they used to, but they do run it a little more. It’s more of a finesse running game like we have. We match up with them, and I think once we do play a team we match up with we have an advantage.”

FRIDAY’S AREA GAMES
All games start at 7 p.m.
Cathedral at St. Aloysius (Radio: 101.3 FM)
Warren Central at Madison Central (Radio: 105.5 FM)
Porter’s Chapel at Central Hinds (Radio: 104.5 FM)
Cleveland Central at Vicksburg (Radio: 107.7 FM)
Port Gibson at Franklin County
Murrah at Clinton
Prentiss Christian at Briarfield Academy
Franklin Academy at Tallulah Academy
Rebul Academy at Riverdale
Tensas Academy at Sharkey-Issaquena Academy
Wossman at Madison Parish (La.)

ONLINE:
For live updates on Friday night, follow us at twitter.com/vixpostsports and facebook.com/thevicksburgpost