CCHS Eagles escape upset bid by Delhi Charter

In a defensive struggle, the No. 3 seed Central Catholic Eagles had one more play in them than the No. 14 seed Delhi Charter School Gators in Friday’s Division IV first-round playoff game.
And it was a big one that came when the Eagles needed it most.
Central Catholic’s Matthew Barbier hauled in a 51-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Blake Byrne allowing the Eagles to escape the Gators’ upset bid and move on to the second round of the playoffs.
“It was a different play design,” Barbier said of the touchdown. “We had run the play before, but we ran a fake off the play and (on this play) the guy bit with Jalen (Johnson), and I was wide open and Blake threw a perfect ball. A second later the guy would have intercepted it, but thank god he didn’t, so it was just a really, really good experience and great moment for me and great moment for my team because I did it for my team.”
Barbier finished the game with two catches for 60 yards and one score while Byrne completed 8 of 22 passes for 168 yards with a touchdown and interception apiece.
Samarick Paul led the Central Catholic receivers with four catches for 66 yards.
While Central Catholic had moved the ball in the Delhi Charter red zone four times Friday night, they came up empty three times and trailed 8-6 at halftime and for much of the second half.
Late in the fourth quarter, things looked bleak as the Eagles were struggling to stop Delhi Charter’s running game of running back Christian Colvin and fullback Jaylon Williams as the Gators moved the ball from their 15 yard line into the Central Catholic red zone where they had a first down at Central Catholic’s 20.
However, Central Catholic’s defenses stiffened.
After allowing a 3-yard run to Williams on first down, the Eagles sacked quarterback Mason Hale on second down.
Colvin gained four yards on third down, but after a Central Catholic time out with 3:36, Colvin was dropped on a fourth-down-and-five situation by Tanner Wiggins for a 2-yard loss, giving the Eagles the ball back with 3:30.
“They were pretty a physical team, but coming into the game we knew we (were) going to have to be physical because they were a running team. … They got us on one drive, but we really turned up the heat and that’s kind of what helped to propel our offense,” Central Catholic linebacker Garret LeBlanc said. “Defense kept them in the game, kept them out the end zone for the most part (and) made the game winnable.”
After the defensive stop, the Eagles moved the ball down the field, gaining 12 yards on carries by Stefano Guarisco and Byrne for a first down at the Delhi Charter 29-yard line.
After two incomplete passes, Byrne connected with Samarick Paul for a 20-yard gain and a first-down at the Delhi Charter 49 yard line.
Byrne’s first-down pass was almost picked off by Ryan Hicks and Guarisco gained nothing on second down, setting up a third-down-and-10 situation.
Byrne took the snap and found Barbier open downfield for what ended up being a 51-yard touchdown pass.
The Eagles’ 2-point conversion pass on a busted play was no good but Central Catholic led 12-8 with 1:51 remaining in game.
Delhi Charter turned to senior quarterback Frank Maxwell. Maxwell threw incomplete on first down, while Kody Ellis was stopped for no gain on second down.
Maxwell’s third and fourth down passes both were incomplete, the final one broken up by Guarisco to preserve the win.
“In the playoffs you want to win, that’s the bottom line,” Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said. “You aint got to blow them out this week to play next week. You just got to win. I thought the kids competed well. It was a very physical football game. That team is a big physical team, and they fought.”
Delhi Charter coach Brett Raley said the game was a “tough” loss.
“Simple as that it was a tough beat, probably one of the toughest one’s I’ve taken because I felt like the kids did enough to win, and a lot of times it just takes one or two plays that can turn a game around and that’s what happened tonight,” Raley said. “All the credit goes to Central Catholic. They never quit either, and you take away that one play and it’s a whole different ball game, but that’s what you got to live with and what’s tough to me is I got to live with it for a calendar year.”
With the win, Central Catholic advances to the second round where it will face No. 6 Ouachita Christian School Friday in Morgan City at 7 p.m. Ouachita Christian advanced to the second round after defeating No. 11 Covenant Christian, 56-21 in first-round action.
After both teams could get little going on their first few drives, Central Catholic finally began to click late in the first quarter.
Beginning at their own 27, the Eagles moved 73 yards in eight plays capped by Guarisco’s 1-yard run. The touchdown run was set up by a Guarisco 55-yard run down to the Delhi Charter 5. However, it took the Eagles all four tries before Guarisco crossed the goal line for the score with 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Barbier’s extra point attempt was no good and Central Catholic led 6-0.
Guarisco finished the game with 28 carries for 163 yards and one touchdown, while catching another pass for 17 yards.
Later in the second quarter, Delhi Charter appeared to get its offense in gear as the Gators moved 82 yards in 13 plays before Colvin capped the drive with a 12-yard run.
Colvin’s 2-point run was good for an 8-6 Delhi Charter lead with 2:22 remaining in the second quarter.
Colvin led Delhi Charter with 30 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown.
Central Catholic moved the ball down to the Delhi Charter 9 on its final possession of the first half but the drive ended when Kaleb Offord picked off Byrne.
Central Catholic moved the ball twice inside the Delhi Charter 20-yard line in the second half, but both times the drives stalled.
Minton said despite his team’s offensive struggles, they kept fighting.
“We kept competing, and that was the key,” Minton said.
Raley said he thought both defenses played well.
“As far as game planning goes, I think both defenses knew exactly what the other one was gonna do, but it was just a matter of who made a mistake first and we made a mistake first,” he said.
Central Catholic finished with 344 yards of offense (176 rushing and 168 passing) while its defense limited Delhi Charter to 175 yards of offense, including 173 rushing.

CCHS Box Score

CCHS DC First downs: 14 11
Rushing yards: 176 173
Passing yards: 168 2
Total yards: 344 175
A-C-HI: 22-8-1 5-1-0
Fumbles-lost: 5-3 2-1
Penalty-yards: 3-28.3 4-31.5
Punts-avg.: 3-40 2-10

Score by Quarters
CCHS: 6 0 0 6 -- 12
DC: 0 8 0 0 -- 8

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CCHS: Stefano Guarisco 1-yard run. (Kick fail) 0:43

Second Quarter
DC: Christian Colvin 12-yard run (Colvin run) 2:22

Fourth Quarter
CCHS: Matthew Barbier 51-yard reception from Blake Byrne (2 pt. pass failed)

Central Catholic Individual Stats Passing
Blake Byrne 8-22-1, 168 yds. 1 TD

Receiving
Samarick Paul, 4-66 yds; Matthew Barbier, 2-60 1 TD; Jalen Johnson, 1-25; Stefano Guarisco, 1-17.

Rushing
Stefano Guarisco 28-163 yds., 1 TD; Samarick Paul, 4-18; Jalen Johnson, 2-1; Blake Byrne, 4-1; Team, 1- (-7)