Brand-Name Win: Catholic High Surges Past West Monroe During Second-Quarter Flurry, 31-14
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The first four weeks of the season have brought Catholic High together with some of the state’s foremost programs.
Earlier victories over Destrehan and St. Thomas More gave way to last week’s disappointing 27-21 overtime loss to University High.
Catholic responded accordingly going into a bye week with a 31-14 triumph Friday over West Monroe at Memorial Stadium, a victory that featured the first career start of junior quarterback Turner Goldsmith and a second-quarter blitz that helped distance the Bears by halftime.
“Last week they got the better of us and that was something for us to fix and we came out ready to put it together,” Catholic running back Rylan Parker said.
Parker was part of the solution for Catholic, ranked No. 6 in the geauxpreps.com Class 5A rankings and No. 4 by the LSWA, producing his first two rushing touchdowns of the season. His 3-yard score on a swing pass from Goldsmith was a third touchdown that gave the Bears (3-1) an early 7-0 lead.
Catholic’s first touchdown was the byproduct of an opening kickoff return of 83 yards by senior Cohen LeBlanc, a sequence that gave coach Hudson Fuller a clear indication of what was to transpire during the game.
“I told our team we’ll know a lot on the opening kickoff because of how well their kickoff coverage unit has performed this year,” he said. “They haven’t allowed people past the 25 very often this year. That let us know a lot.”
LeBlanc later brought back another kickoff – this time 45 yards – after West Monroe (2-2) had tied the game at 7-7 on a sneak from quarterback Ryder DeJean near the end of the first quarter.
LeBlanc accounted for 173 all-purpose yards including six receptions for 45 yards.
“We gave them two returns and they had short fields,” West Monroe coach Kevin Davis said. “Against a really good football team, you can’t do that, and those guys are really good. We knew that coming, so you really couldn’t do anything to give them anything. We had penalties early and to get behind the eight-ball was tough.”
Goldsmith, who made his first start in place of injured Baylor Graves, was equal to the task, building his confidence early with short, intermediate throws before later challenging West Monroe’s secondary downfield.
Goldsmith went 13 of 16 for 153 yards in the opening half with touchdown passes to Parker (3 yards) and Beau Thomas (23 yards). He wound up 21 of 26 for 204 yards and did not turn the ball over.
“The whole year I’ve been playing in the games, sometimes not as much as other games,” Goldsmith said. “I prepare the same for every game whether it was this game or Week 1. I take it the same if I would be the starting guy. I go out for my guys and to be prepared.”
Fuller said the plan was to try and develop momentum early for Goldsmith with a series of swing passes and short outs.
“We worked to get him in rhythm early in the game,” he said. “He did a great job of not forcing things, sticking to his reads and just doing his job. Just playing with heart. His gift is having a great heart and being a great competitor.”
Catholic took control of the game in the second quarter with three successive scoring drives to open a 28-7 lead at halftime.
The Bears reeled off a stretch of 21 points in a 10-minute span, each time with their defense forcing a pair of punts.
Parker’s 1-yard score at the 9:59 mark ignited the surge when Goldsmith completed passes for his biggest gains of the game – an 18-yard completion to Amari Clayton on a seam route, who had eight catches for 72 yards, and Thomas for 29 yards to West Monroe’s 13-yard line.
Two plays later, Parker scored from 11 yards out for a 21-7 lead with 6:13 showing in the second quarter.
“I’m grateful for whatever God let me do tonight,” said Parker, who rushed 14 times for a team-high 50 yards. “He let me get three (touchdowns). I don’t count touchdowns, it’s whatever happened on the field.”
Goldsmith executed the 2-minute drill to perfection, taking Catholic down the field in the final 1 ½ of the first half, completing all eight of his pass attempts for 80 yards with Thomas running behind coverage on first down for a 23-yard TD to make it 28-7 at halftime.
“We went into the drive thinking two minute,” Goldsmith said. “Every week we practice it and coming out and executing every single play was just awesome. We felt the momentum going into the half. We just had to go back out there and keep playing.
“We just trust in our coaches and what they have called,” Goldsmith said. “Whatever they have called, we’re ready to go to war for our coaches and they’re ready to do the same for us. It was our two-minute situation and those were the certain plays they called.”
Catholic gained 193 of its 259 total yards in the first half and added a 27-yard field goal from Tanner Forbes with 2:32 remaining in the game.
West Monroe, which held a 183-66 advantage in total yards in the second half, made it 28-14 on Kendrick McNeil’s 10-yard touchdown with 1:22 left in the third quarter. The Rebels held onto their opening series of the third quarter for 10 plays and more than four minutes when Catholic’s Jayden Vessell sacked DeJean on fourth down from the Bears’ 28.
The Rebels were twice more unsuccessful on fourth down when Catholic’s Maxwell Maurer dropped McNeil for a five-yard loss on fourth-and-two, and DeJean was incomplete on four straight pass attempts from the Bears’ 14 with 1:38 left.
Ranaldrick Myles had a team-best 73 yards on 15 carries and McNeil added 53 yards on 15 attempts. Trez Davis (5-53) and An’Jahvion Pickens (4-71) led the Rebels in receiving.
“We were ready to scratch and claw and do whatever it took,” Goldsmith said. “I would go to war with my guys any day. They were ready to go.”
Catholic 31, West Monroe 14
Score By Quarters
West Monroe 7 0 7 0 – 14
Catholic 7 21 0 3 – 31
Scoring Summary
CHS – Rylan Parker 3 pass from Turner Goldsmith (Tanner Forbes kick)
WMHS – Ryder DeJean 1 run (Hunter Fox kick)
CHS – Parker 1 run (Forbes kick)
CHS – Parker 11 run (Forbes kick)
CHS – Beau Thomas 23 pass from Goldsmith (Forbes kick)
WMHS – Kedrian McNeil 10 run (Fox kick)
CHS – FG. Forbes 27
WMHS CHS
First Downs 15 16
Rushes-Yards 41-141 29-55
Passing Yards 133 204
A-C-I 12-21-0 21-26-0
Punts-Avg. 4-31.5 3-35.6
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1
Penalties-Yards 9-67 4-35