Berwick to face Haynes Friday

Berwick steps out of District 8-3A play Friday to tackle unbeaten Haynes Academy out of New Orleans Friday.
Berwick (5-2, 2-2) comes into the game off a 37-18 loss to undefeated Kaplan (7-0, 4-0) last week in Kaplan. The Pirates pulled away early and jumped out to as much as a 37-12 lead following a Daniel Lotief 37-yard pass to Mac Thibeaux with 8:46 remaining in the game. Kaplan completed just two passes all night but both were for touchdowns.
“Most of the coaches that’s come across the field at the end of (the) game, they say we’re going in the right direction,” Berwick Coach Eric Holden said after the game. “They’ve never seen us look the way we look, and I know we’re getting better.”
Holden said his team learns something about the process of moving towards playing that type of football each time they play a hard-nosed football team.
From that learning, they get to go back and make themselves better by incorporating the lessons learned, he said.
“As disappointed as I am by not winning the thing, I know we have a great opportunity to get better this week,” he said last week.
While Berwick’s offense struggled to score points, it wasn’t helped by long, time-consuming drives by the Pirates throughout the game.
Berwick had just four possessions in the first half, although one possession was cancelled out via Cameron Wiley’s kickoff return for a touchdown.
In the second half, the Panthers had just four more possessions but scored touchdowns on two of them.
Berwick’s offense was held to a season-low 209 yards (140 passing and 69 rushing) by the Pirates, which came into the game ranked No. 7 in the latest Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 3A poll.
Sanford led the Berwick passing attack as he completed 7 of 18 pass for 112 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also led the run game with six carries for 46 yards.
Stanford has completed 56 of 112 passes for 1,188 yards with 12 touchdowns and three interceptions this season.
Jones led Berwick’s receivers with six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He leads the Tri-City area with 37 receptions for 735 yards and eight scores.
Josh Jones leads the team’s ground game with 65 carries for 403 yards and three touchdowns.
Berwick’s receiving duo of Kenan Jones and Josh Carver top the area’s scoring list with eight touchdowns each. The Panthers’ offense is also tops in the area with 2,455 yards of total offense (1,834 passing and 621 yards rushing).
Haynes (7-0, 2-0 District 8-2A) beat Thomas Jefferson, 29-12, last week. Quarterback Charles Magaw completed 6 of 10 passes for 164 yards with three touchdowns.
Running back Malik Bailey totaled 24 carries for 126 yards and a score.
Defensively, Haynes had four turnovers.
“They have a good running back and the quarterback is solid,” Holden said. “Their receivers are very athletic and made some big plays last week, so we have our work cut out for us. But I don’t mind a tough schedule because it gets us ready for the playoffs.”
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at Muss Bertolino Stadium in Kenner.
Additional reporting by www.nola.com/sports.