Eagles cruise to 54-12 victory

Central Catholic cruised to a 54-12 victory Friday against the Centerville Bulldogs, scoring early and often while also shutting down Centerville’s offense.
Eagles’ running back Stefano Guarisco was the force behind Central Catholic’s quick start Friday, rushing 12 times for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns and catching a 77-yard touchdown pass before being taken out of the game about midway through the second quarter.
The Eagles executed really well on offense and defense, Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said.
Central Catholic didn’t have to punt during the game.
“Defensively, we were able to pretty much keep them behind the chains and keep them in long-yardage situations, which helped us,” Minton said.
The Eagles put forth a good effort, Minton said.
Minton took Guarisco out during the second quarter to rest him because he had been carrying the ball a lot in recent weeks.
“The big deal is just to keep him fresh and let’s go into the second half of this season with him with fresh legs,” Minton said.
By halftime, Central Catholic had a 46-0 lead and extended that lead to 54-0 in the third quarter.
The Eagles accumulated 405 yards total offense compared to the Bulldogs’ -8 yards total offense.
Central Catholic’s defense held Centerville to -40 yards rushing, 32 yards passing and just two first downs.
Centerville fumbled seven times but maintained possession each time. The Eagles turned the ball over twice — once on an interception and the other on a fumble.
Starting quarterback Blake Byrne shared time with backup quarterback Damarcus Mitchell, and both threw a touchdown pass.
In the third quarter, Centerville got on the scoreboard, sparked by eighth-grader Jayvien Thomas’ 75-yard kick return to the Eagles 5.
On third-and-goal, Centerville quarterback Caleb LeBlanc scored on a 3-yard run.
The Bulldogs would score again in the fourth quarter after recovering a Central Catholic fumble on the Eagles 21.
On another third-and-goal, LeBlanc threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Matthew LeBourgeois.
Centerville is in its first season playing varsity and got off to a 3-0 start before losing two games in a row.
On Friday, Centerville “met a powerhouse” in Central Catholic, Centerville coach Anthony Hicks said.
“We aspire to be like Central Catholic,” Hicks said. The Eagles and Vermilion Catholic are among the top teams in 1A, Hicks said.
Hicks said his team had a “tough loss” against Gueydan last week with “a major letdown” in the final minute of that game.
“We are a new program, so we’re going to have our ups and downs,” he said.
Hicks said he was glad the Bulldogs kept playing hard and got on the scoreboard.
“We could’ve sat down,” he said. “We could’ve laid down and gave up, but we didn’t. We kept on playing.”
Central Catholic is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in District 7-1A and making progress along the way, Minton said.
“It’s not so much being undefeated as it is we’re improving each week,” Minton said.

CCHS CHS
First downs: 14 2
Rushing yards: 249 -40
Passing yards: 156 32
Total yards: 405 -8
A-C-HI: 7-4-1 5-1-0
Penalty-yds.: 12-75 9-80
Fumbles-lost: 1-1 7-0
Punts-avg.: 0-0 6-32.2

Score by Quarter
CCHS 16 30 8 0 = 54
CHS 0 0 6 6 = 12

Scoring summary
First Quarter
CCHS: Stefano Guarisco 3-yard run (Guarisco run) 9:40

CCHS: Guarisco 5-yard run (Guarisco pass to Jalen Johnson) 6:38

Second Quarter
CCHS: Damarcus Mitchell 77-yard pass to Guarisco (Guarisco run) 11:03

CCHS: Guarisco 59-yard run (Bailey Badeaux run) 8:23

CCHS: Blake Byrne 58-yard pass to Greg Leger (Mitchell run) 5:28

CCHS: Byrne 7-yard run (pass failed) 0:07

Third Quarter
CCHS: Mitchell 4-yard run (Chris Singleton run) 7:03

CHS: Caleb LeBlanc 4-yard run (pass failed) 3:15

Fourth Quarter
CHS: LeBlanc 32-yard pass to Matthew LeBourgeois (run failed) 8:41

Central Catholic Individual Stats
Rushing
Stefano Guarisco, 12-156 yds., 3 TDs; Chris Singleton, 4-42 yds.; Sydney Holder, 3-19 yds.; Damarcus Mitchell, 3-17 yds. TD; Blake Byrne, 2-14 yds. TD; Bailey Badeaux 4-1 yds.

Passing
Damarcus Mitchell, 2-3-0, 89 yds., TD; Blake Byrne, 2-4-1, 67 yds., TD

Receiving
Stefano Guarisco, 1-77 yds., TD; Greg Leger, 1-58 yds., TD; Cade Minton, 1-12 yds.