CCHS travels to Ascension Episcopal

The Central Catholic Eagles will continue District 7-1A play Friday when it travels to face Ascension Episcopal.
The Eagles enter the contest fresh off a 51-6 victory against Hanson Memorial in Morgan City last Thursday.
Ascension Episcopal held on for a thrilling 28-21 victory against Lafayette Christian in District 7-1A play.
In last week’s win, Ascension Episcopal led in the second half 21-0 before Lafayette Christian made a furious rally to tie the game at 21 with 1:39 remaining.
However, Ascension Episcopal quarterback Jake Arceneaux hooked up with wide receiver Brennan Ducote for a 42-yard pass on fourth down for a first down at the Lafayette Christian 1-yard line.
Ja’Ceiry Linzer scored the game winning touchdown for Ascension Episcopal (5-1 overall, 2-1 in district) one play later with 18 seconds remaining.
Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said that the Ascension Episcopal offense begins with Linzer, who Minton said is taller than E.D. White’s Darius Charles but will require the same type of effort to bring down the roughly 225-pound back.
Linzer is ranked seventh among the state’s rushers with 1,041 yards on 142 carries and 18 touchdowns. A week ago, he had 107 yards on 30 carries with three scores.
“Everything they do kind of runs through him,” Minton said. “They set up the passing game by establishing the run with him and then throwing play action off it.”
Ascension Episcopal runs a spread offense. Minton said Arceneaux does a good job on offense, while Ducote is the team’s go-to receiver.
On defense, Ascension Episcopal mostly utilizes a four-man front.
In its win last week, Central Catholic rolled to a 45-6 halftime lead en route to the big win.
“I thought we played well,” Minton said. “I thought we played one of our more complete games. We definitely put some work in on extra-point team. That was definitely one area that we didn’t perform as well as we could, but other than that I thought that overall we played a pretty good football game.”
Minton said the extra-point team woes were a combined effort with some bad snaps, some missed blocking assignments and one missed kick.
Other than that, Minton was pleased with the Eagles’ performances in other areas of special teams.
In last week’s win, Central Catholic quarterback Blake Byrne finished 8 of 10 passing for 170 yards and four touchdowns in a half of action.
Samarick Paul caught three of Byrne’s touchdowns. He had four receptions for 70 yards during the contest, while Jalen Johnson also caught one pass for 26 yards.
This season, Byrne has completed 64 of 135 passes for 944 yards with 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Paul has hauled in 20 passes for 261 yards and five touchdowns, while Johnson has caught 14 passes for 265 yards and three scores.
Matthew Barbier also has 11 catches for 141 yards and one score.
Stefano Guarisco, who had 103 yards and a score on 16 carries a week ago, has rushed 113 times for 573 yards this season and 11 touchdowns.
He has caught 13 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns.
Backup running back Chris Singleton, rushed twice for 69 yards last week, including a 74-yard touchdown run. He has rushed 16 times for 196 yards and two scores this season.
Friday’s game will begin at 7 p.m.
Additional reporting by www.theadvertiser.com/sports and www.theadvocate.com/sports.