CCHS will travel to Big Easy to face Lusher Charter

Central Catholic will look to remain undefeated this week when it makes the trip to New Orleans to face Lusher Charter.
The Eagles, who upset Class 2A Loreauville in its season opener, will face its second consecutive higher-classification opponent in Lusher, a Class 3A school.
Central Catholic coach Tommy Minton said that Lusher, who defeated Central Catholic 34-26 a year ago, has a lot of team speed and good skill players.
While the Lions don’t have Keyan Williams, who signed with Fresno State, the Eagles will have to contend with wide receiver Diego Griffin and running back Joshua Barney, who is a returning starter.
Minton said Griffin, who is about 6-feet, 3 inches, is a “big-play threat” for the Lions. Griffin had a 51-yard touchdown reception in Lusher’s 35-6 victory against St. Martin’s Episcopal a week ago.
Central Catholic’s coach said Barney, who rushed for 95 yards on 11 carries last week, runs the ball hard.
“We got to tackle him,” Minton said. “He’s about 185-190 pounds and he does a really good job running the football.”
Lusher Charter is multiple on offense, running out of the spread and I-formations.
A week ago, quarterback Eli Poche connected on 8 of 14 passes for 206 yards and a score.
On defense, Lusher runs a 4-3 look. A week ago, five different defenders recorded interceptions against St. Martin’s quarterback Desmond McGovern.
In last year’s contest, Lusher scored the game-winning touchdown with five seconds remaining in a 34-26 victory in Morgan City.
“They put up a lot of points last year because of their skill people,” Minton said. “We’re going to have to contain those guys.”
In last week’s win against Loreauville, Central Catholic jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter before scoring its final touchdown in the third quarter for as much as a 27-6 lead.
Loreauville scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter but couldn’t make up the difference.
Minton said he thought his team did a good job of “staying together and competing” for the entire game.
“Although we went on a little dry spell in the second quarter and most of the third quarter that we didn’t score any points, we still competed hard, we still moved the ball, put ’em on a long field,” he said.
On defense, he thought his team played hard.
“A couple mistakes cost (us) a couple big plays, but for the most part, I thought we played great defensively,” he said.
In the win, Stefano Guarisco led the Eagles with 201 rushing yards on 31 carries with two scores. He also caught three passes for 19 yards and a score.
Blake Byrne completed 13 of 30 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns for Central Catholic. He also had two interceptions.
Jalen Jones led the Eagles’ receivers with three catches for 51 yards, while Matthew Barbier also had two catches for 31 yards and a score.
Friday’s game will begin at 7 p.m.
Additional reporting by www.nola.com.