Coming Into His Own: No. 1 Teurlings Remains Undefeated Behind Solid Performance From QB Alex Munoz
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Teurlings Catholic went into the 2024 season with an ongoing debate at quarterback.
The consideration went through fall camp, the jamboree, and three weeks into the season before a winner emerged.
Junior Alex Munoz solidified the position and once again Friday resembled someone playing beyond his years in leading Teurlings Catholic of Lafayette to a 28-14 road victory over East Ascension at Spartan Stadium.
“It’s about staying composed and being able to make easy throws,” Munoz said of EA’s penchant for crowding the line of scrimmage. “They’re giving us the easy stuff and we had to take it and be efficient.”
Class 4A’s No. 1 Teurlings (8-0) matched its best start in 28 years with a win over East Ascension (3-5) in the first meeting between the schools. The Rebels, which faces arch-rival St. Thomas More in a key District 5-4A matchup next week, dealt with plenty of obstacles just to reach their non-district game with Class 5A East Ascension in Gonzales.
“The main thing was to go on the road,” Teurlings coach Dane Charpentier said. “Road trips aren’t easy on kids. It was a three-hour trip, and it was not fun. The (Mississippi) bridge was not fun. There was a wreck on 1-10. Pretty much anything that could go wrong on the trip did. I’m proud of the way the kids got here and played their tails off and just found a way to win the ballgame.”
Munoz was a centerpiece in Teurlings’ 10th straight regular-season win. He’s the son of 25-year coaching veteran Jorge Munoz, a former offensive analyst on the LSU 2019 national championship team and current tight ends coach at UL-Lafayette.
Alex Munoz compiled 266 total yards, and his two touchdown passes gave Teurlings leads of 14-7 and 21-14. He was 12 of 20 for 193 yards, kept nine times for 73 yards, and more importantly, didn’t turn the ball over.
“His ability to run the football and keep people honest on the edge is just tremendous,” Charpentier said. “It becomes very hard to defend when you have a quarterback that can hurt you by running the ball. We’ve got to protect what we have inside with our running backs, offensive line, and tight end group. He does a great of protecting them.”
Munoz said his rushing total was a byproduct of an aggressive EA defense trying to limit his team’s leading rusher Douge Viltz, who gained 51 of his 88 yards after halftime.
Teurlings outgained EA 379 to 207 and ran 22 more plays than the Spartans.
“They’re really focused on Douge throughout the game, so I was able to get around them and capitalize on that,” he said. “They were playing man coverage, so they dropped into spaces way down field which gave me lanes to run. I’ve been playing with confidence is what I’ve been doing.”
The game was tied at 7-7 when Viltz scored on a 1-yard run and Jeremiah Wilson countered with a 2-yard score for EA with 3:07 remaining before halftime.
Then things got really interesting.
Wilson’s score tipped off a frenetic stretch with 28 combined points that included two offensive scores from Teurlings and a special teams touchdown from EA.
A play after Viltz was dropped for a three-yard loss, Munoz found Viltz out of the backfield on second-and-13 and after juking a defender downfield, the senior completed a 23-yard TD for a 14-7 lead.
The Rebels enjoyed the lead for 15 seconds.
EA’s Jason Blackburn emerged on the ensuing kickoff, hit his team’s sideline, and sped untouched for a 93-yard score to make it 14-14.
“We knew we would have that opportunity on the kickoff return after we saw it all week on film,” EA coach Brock Matherne.
Matherne lamented his team’s inability to make key plays later in the game, a sticking point in the Spartans previously dropping three games by less than 10 points.
“We’ve talked to the kids, and you look at all of our losses and how close these games are,” he said. “It comes down to winning a moment and that’s a history in itself. On the drive we let them score right before half, we’ve got an opportunity to pick the ball off and we drop it. We’re not executing in the bigger moments and it’s coming back to bite us.”
Teurlings got the ball back with a pair of timeouts and 61 yards to go and 69 seconds to travel before halftime. They only used 57 of those seconds with Munoz orchestrating a hurry-up offense to perfection, completing 4 of 6 passes and utilizing a pair of timeouts along the way.
The biggest play was a 25-yard completion to Nick Celestine to EA’s 19 before facing a third-and-four, Munoz found tight end Jack Purser for a 13-yard TD with 12 seconds to go before halftime.
Logan Boudreaux added his third of four extra points for a 21-14 lead.
“I thought Munoz played great in the two-minute drill and made great decisions,” Charpentier said. “I thought the best play he made was throwing the ball away. You don’t need to make plays that aren’t there, and he allowed us to keep playing. I thought he played great. He did a good job of managing the game and took what defense gave.”
Teurlings, which scored on three of four possessions in the first half, picked up where it left off in the third quarter.
The Rebels grinded out a 15-play, 79-yard drive that took 7 minutes, and 17 seconds off the clock with Viltz doing the majority of the damage behind a stout offensive line led by Tulane commitment Gresham Perry.
Viltz carried nine times for 38 yards, including four attempts that produced first downs, and Munoz added a 16-yard keeper.
The Spartans stiffened, though, forcing the Rebels to have to run four plays from the 1-yard line until Viltz’s score with 4:43 left for a 28-14 lead.
“We wanted to make sure we could establish the inside run,” Munoz said. “Once you have the inside run everything else opens up. The defense played a great game. They’re the reason why we won this game.”
Munoz also proved to be an adept weapon in the kicking game with punts of 47 and 36 yards, respectively, on quick kicks with his second attempt being downed at EA’s 3-yard line.
“We barely repped it in practice,” Munoz said with a smile, crediting his soccer background for his kicking prowess.
EA, which was led by the 42 yards rushing of D’Ron McZeal and 35 from Wilson, had four offensive possessions in the second half. The Spartans punted twice, turned the ball over on downs twice, and were held to 74 yards in the second half.
“Coach Dane did a great job of preparing us and made sure we didn’t look past this week because they’re a great team,” Munoz said. “We can’t look past anyone because it’s STM.”
Score By Quarters
Teurlings 7 14 7 0 – 28
East Ascension 0 14 0 0 – 14
Scoring Summary
TCHS – Douge Viltz 1 run (Logan Boudreaux kick)
EAHS – Jeremiah Wilson 2 run (Preston Baker kick)
TCHS – Viltz 23 pass from Alex Munoz (Boudreaux kick)
EAHS – Jason Blackburn 93 kickoff return (Baker kick)
TCHS – Jack Purser 13 pass from Munoz (Boudreaux kick)
TCHS – Viltz 1 run (Boudreaux kick)
TCHS
First Downs 21
Rushes-Yards 44-186
Passing Yards 193
A-C-I 12-20-0
Punts-Avg. 3-35
Fumbles-Lost 0-0
Penalties-Yards 8-80
EAHS
First Downs 13
Rushes-Yards 22-100
Passing Yards 107
A-C-I 9-21-1
Punts-Avg. 3-37
Fumbles-Lost 2-0
Penalties-Yards 9-53