Panthers runs wild over Pios

CROWLEY – When it rains it pours and in this case Catholic High rained touchdowns on Notre Dame Thursday night. Four first quarter scores were too much to overcome and the four that followed those carried the Panthers to a 56-28 win over Notre Dame at Gardiner Stadium.
“We just didn’t do a very god job of getting our guys ready to play,” explained Pios coach Lewis Cook. “You have to give a lot of credit to Catholic High. The way they played, they just came out and whipped us.”
Everything the Pios served up on defense came up empty. Catholic rushed for 484 yards and finished with 569 yards of offense, averaging an astonishing 11 yards per play. The Panthers had six TD runs of 35 yards or longer and with several starters out of the lineup,` never seemed to be in synch on either side of the ball.
“It’s kind of hard when you have your middle on offense and your middle on defense out of the lineup,” noted Cook. “You are putting your kids in situations they haven’t been in before and against a good football team. There are no excuses, though, I don’t know if we could have beaten them with everybody out there. It just wasn’t our night.”
Notre Dame stopped the opening drive by Catholic, but a punt to the Pios one put the offense in safety mode. After forcing the Pios to punt from their eight yard line, Catholic scored on a 42 yard Jeremy Touchet run.
The Panthers recovered an onside kick and on the first play, quarterback Jason Pellerin connected with Andre Bellafontaine on a post pattern over the middle. The 35 yard scoring pass made it 14-nothing seven minutes into the game.
Catholic again went for the onside kick and again recovered at the Pios 38. After completions of 14 and 19 yards to Bellafontaine, QB Pellerin capped the 7 play drive with a two yard TD run for a 21-0 Catholic lead.
“The onsides kicks were huge because they followed both of them with scores,” added Cook. “You don’t want to give their offense the ball any more than you have to. We kept giving them opportunities and all of a sudden it’s 21-nothing before you can blink your eye.”
The Pios offense went three and out on their second possession and even a 61 yard punt by Dustin Reiners down to the Panthers 6 yard line couldn’t slow down the visitors.
Panthers QB Pellerin showed why he is an Ole Miss and SEC commitment by running 94 yards to pay dirt on the first play. Catholic led 28-0 after the first quarter.
The onside kick didn’t work this time for Catholic and Notre Dame looked to be recovering a little with a 62 yard drive in less than a minute. Lance Bertrand broke tackles for a costly 30 yard gain to the Catholic 21. Attempting to plant and cut at the end of the run, Bertrand slipped and had to be helped from the field with an apparent ankle injury. Damon Comeaux took it in from there by speeding around the end to make it 28-7 after the Reiners PAT.
The recovery was short lived. Two plays later, receiver Peyton Pharr took a double reverse around the left side for a 63 yard touchdown.
“The things we knew couldn’t happen really hurt us,” added Cook. “We let them go 94 yards on one play. We didn’t field kickoffs. We just didn’t have a lot of things go our way, but they had a lot to do with that.”
The Pios failed to capitalize on a Hayden Bourgeois interception and after another Reiners punt, went 80 yards in three plays. On third and nine at the Catholic 21, fullback Seth Pierre took it straight up the middle for a 79 yard scoring run to put the Panthers up, 42-7.
With 1:27 to go in the half, Pios QB Joe Faulk launched a perfect strike down the right hash marks to Adam Berken for a 43 yard touchdown. Berken hauled in the pass in stride at the five and pulled out of the tackle from a defender for the score to cut the lead to 42-14 at the half.
“We thought if we go in and make adjustments, we get the ball to start the third quarter and if we can get another score, we get halfway there and who knows,” noted Cook. “It didn’t work out that way.”
Catholic returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown and after a Pios fumble marched 74 yards in four plays. Bellafontaine capped the drive with another long scoring run, this from 38 yards, for a 56-14 lead after three quarters.
“They came out ready to go from the beginning and never let up,” said Cook. “They played more aggressive and quicker than us. They just outplayed us.”
Notre Dame put up a couple of fourth quarter scores behind the running of Damon Comeaux. The senior running back was a glaring bright spot in an otherwise pretty dull evening. Comeaux ran for 149 yards and three touchdowns on the night.
His second score was a 41 yard race to the end zone on the third play of the fourth quarter. Comeaux capped the scoring with a 15 yard TD run with two minutes to play that made the final, 56-28.
“Damon has been waiting for his opportunity and he did a really good job for us,” summed up Coach Cook. “With the injury to Bertrand, we’ll see where we are and what we have for next week. We still have a lot of guys banged up. We get to start a brand new season next week in district play, so, we have to keep working to get where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Any place but where they were last Thursday night will be just fine!